Two months after enforcement of new state rules for disclosure of nonresidential building energy performance during transactions was pushed back to September, the effective date was delayed to the beginning of next year because of problems regulators said they encountered with the compliance software.
[caption id="attachment_78193" align="alignright" width="300"] Energy Star Portfolio Manager online software was updated significantly in July to make it easier to use. (click to enlarge)[/caption]
Instead of Sept. 1 as the date when owners of buildings with more than 50,000 square feet will have to make the disclosures during sales, full-building leases and financing, the new date for enforcement of the Nonresidential Building Energy Use Disclosure Program, better known by enacting legislation Assembly Bill 1103, will be Jan. 1, 2014, according to a statement from the California Energy Commission on Tuesday.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed the Energy Commission that the Facility Summary Report within the Energy Star Portfolio Manager system was eliminated in their latest release," the commission statement said. "Because the Facility Summary Report was explicitly required in the regulations, the Energy Commission must follow certain rulemaking protocols for making any modifications to the regulations."
In addition to providing energy-usage reports to parties in transactions, owners have to file reports with the state, under the new law.
Several energy utilities have been prevented from uploading usage data to the software, as required by AB 1103, because of "minor issues pertaining to the data transfer interface," according to the commission.
AB 1103 was set to take effect July 1 but was delayed because Energy Star Portfolio Manager was to be offline from June 26 through July 9, later extended to July 18. The enforcement deadlines were pushed back in mid-June to Sept. 1 for buildings larger than 50,000 square feet, Jan. 1 for those with 10,000--50,000 square feet and July 1 for structures with 5,000--10,000 square feet.
The enforcement deadline for buildings with 5,000--50,000 square feet remain the same, according to a commission spokesman.
Commission staff first disclosed the enforcement change in an Aug. 7 webinar sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers, according to a commission spokesman.
Property owners shouldn't put off compliance with AB 1103 before of the suspension of enforcement, according to the California Business Property Association.
"We recommend that our industry continue working to be prepared for implementation, including going through training with Energy Star," the trade group said in an email newsletter Friday.
