New Jersey joins an increasing number of states and municipalities across the United States in establishing benchmarking programs to measure the energy and water performance of buildings. New Jersey's Clean Energy Act of 2018 states the following:

• No later than five years after the date of enactment of P.L. 2018, c.17 (C.48:3-87.8 et al.), the board shall require the owner or operator of each commercial building over 25,000 square feet in the State to benchmark energy and water use for the prior calendar year using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager tool.

Following stakeholder input, intensive research and design based on best practices, and expert guidance, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ("Board" or "BPU") has approved the Benchmarking Program for Commercial Buildings on the September 7, 2022 Board Agenda. Commercial buildings over 25,000 square feet will be required to benchmark their energy and water usage annually, beginning in 2023. This website will be updated regularly to reflect program developments ahead of the Oct 1, 2023 deadline.

Stay Engaged

For building owners and operators, BPU will hold two identical public stakeholder meetings on the “Procedures for Building Owners to Meet Their Benchmarking Obligations”.  The dates are December 13, 2022 at 10:00 am and January 5, 2022 at 3:00 pm.

Please see the posted Notice at https://nj.gov/bpu/newsroom for more information, including how to register.

Sign up for the Energy Efficiency listserv to receive updates on the Benchmarking Program.