About

Benchmarking is the process of determining the levels of energy and water consumed at a property over the course of a year. The City of Atlanta’s Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance will require all covered non-city properties that exceed 25,000 gross square feet in total combined floor areas to benchmark their energy and water consumption data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and submit that data to the City on an annual basis. To check if your property is covered, search through our building list here.

The building owner or condominium association is responsible for reporting. Non-residential tenants must, if asked, supply the necessary information to the owner or association. Square footage is determined per the gross floor area listed in Office of Resilience records.

How to Benchmark a Property

1. Collect consumption data on water use and all types of energy (electricity, natural gas, etc.) used by the building. This information can be found on your bills or online utility accounts.

2. Create an account with EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager (a free online benchmarking platform).

3. Add your property to your account; include details like size and space use.

4. Set up your energy and water meters in Portfolio Manager with the correct units.

5. Enter your energy and water use data.

6. Run a data quality check.

7. Add any contextual information.

8. Add your Atlanta Building ID (ABID) to the building’s profile.

9. Generate and submit your energy and water report to the City of Atlanta.

  • Send 2019 Benchmarking Data for 2020 Compliance
  • Send 2018 Benchmarking Data for 2019 Compliance

More detailed instructions on how to benchmark your property with ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager can be found here. Check out our Quick Compliance Guide here.

Deadlines

Compliance Year Benchmarking Data Submission Deadline
2020 Compliance Calendar Year 2019 Energy and Water Usage Data November 23, 2020

Resources

Looking for a 3rd party provider to input data, manage your energy portfolio, and send your benchmarking submission for compliance? The EPA provides a (partial) listing of service providers here.

Portfolio Manager help, training webinars, and office hours are also available, at portfoliomanager.energystar.gov/pm/help.