Expanding Access to Whole-Building Energy Data

Many building owners in the U.S. don’t know how much energy their buildings use. Knowing this is essential to them understanding, documenting, and improving their building’s performance, including to access new incentives. This issue is common in building types where tenants are responsible for at least some energy bills, like Multifamily Housing, Offices, Warehouses, and certain configurations of Retail.

But there’s a solution! Utilities can add up all the energy used at a building by fuel type, such as electricity, and provide the resulting whole-building consumption data to building owners. With some basic safeguards, this approach protects tenant data privacy while giving owners the whole-building data they need.

EPA’s Whole-Building Energy Data Campaign

While more and more utilities are making this whole-building data available to owners, the vast majority (more than 90% of U.S. utilities) do not do so yet. With that in mind, EPA is launching a new campaign to assist building owners in making the case to utilities about why they need the data. The campaign has four components:

  1. (Complete) Gather input from building owners and others on where they need this data most and why.
  2. (Ongoing) Create resources that summarize the issue and that support building owners in engaging utilities nationwide. This will include a resource that summarizes input received in Part 1. 
  3. Organize meetings between utilities and building owners in priority locations to facilitate discussion. The meetings will also be based on building owner commitments to participate.
  4. EPA will support interested utilities on providing the data in line with industry best practices.

Engagement tools and resources

  1. Backgrounder: Multitenant Buildings and Federal Incentives: This 3-page fact sheet explains the importance of whole-building data to building owners (with a focus on federal funding opportunities requiring this data), as well as the solutions available to utilities to provide the data.
  2. HUD-EPA-DOE Joint Letter to Utilities: This joint letter from leaders of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was finalized in 2024. In the letter, the agencies asked utilities to provide whole-building energy and water use data to owners of multifamily properties.
  3. Model Law for Statewide Utility Data Access: This model law includes language that would require utilities to make whole-building data available to building owners on request, and includes language aimed at protecting privacy of building occupants and addressing the costs to utilities to provide this information. It was created by the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), with EPA providing technical input. 
  4. Helping Clients Obtain Utility Data to Facilitate Benchmarking: This resource provides a framework stakeholders could use to engage utilities on providing the whole-building energy data needed for benchmarking.
  5. Interactive Utility Data Access Map: This interactive map shows the service territories of the utilities providing customers with energy benchmarking data. Enter a zip code or click on the map to see if a utility provides their customers with access to the data needed to benchmark in Portfolio Manager.

EPA support for utilities interested in providing this data

EPA is a trusted business partner to utilities, supporting interested utilities in working through how to provide it. As part of the campaign and generally, EPA can support interested utilities on providing the data in line with industry best practices.

In 2023, EPA finalized its resource, Guidance for Utilities on Providing Whole-Building Data. This 12-page documents summarizes best practices for utilities that want to provide customers with energy consumption data for benchmarking in ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. The recommendations will help improve customer experience, streamline the process for the utility, and improve data accuracy. 

Interested utilities should contact EPA at statelocal@energystar.gov to learn more.