# COMAR Title 26 — Department of the Environment ## Subtitle 28 — Building Energy Performance Standards ### Chapter 02 — Benchmarking and Reporting **Authority:** Environment Article, §§1-404, 2-301, 2-302, 2-1205, 2-1602, Annotated Code of Maryland **Administrative History:** Effective date: December 23, 2024 (51:25 Md. R. 1142) **Administrative History:** Regulation .02E adopted effective March 30, 2026 (53:6 Md. R. 292) #### Regulation .01 Purpose. *COMAR 26.28.02.01* The purpose of this chapter is to establish reporting requirements for building owners, tenants, electric and gas companies, and district energy providers. #### Regulation .02 Reporting Requirements of Building Owners. *COMAR 26.28.02.02* A. Data Collection. (1) Each calendar year beginning in 2025 or in the first calendar year after which a newly constructed covered building is occupied, the covered building owner shall collect and enter all required benchmarking information for the previous calendar year into the benchmarking tool. (2) Nothing in this regulation shall be construed to permit a building owner to use tenant energy usage data for purposes other than evaluation of the performance of the building. (3) A building owner shall follow the exemption procedures under the TM 24-01, “Technical Guidance and Calculation Methodologies to Comply with Building Energy Performance Standards”. B. Benchmarking Report. (1) A building owner shall submit a benchmarking report to the Department by June 1st of each year, beginning in 2025, using the benchmarking tool. (2) Following the first full calendar year that energy data can be collected and the building was occupied, the owner of any newly constructed covered building shall benchmark the building and report to the Department no later than June 1st of the following year, and every June 1st thereafter. (3) The annual benchmarking report shall include, at a minimum, the benchmarking information spanning January 1st to December 31st of the previous calendar year. (4) The building owner shall enter data into the benchmarking tool such that the benchmarking report shall be based on an assessment of the energy consumed by the building for the entire calendar year being reported and demonstrate the net direct emissions and site EUI for the entire calendar year being reported. (5) The building owner shall exclude from the benchmarking report submetered and separately metered energy consumption data for: (a) Food service facilities that engage in commercial cooking and water heating; (b) Electric vehicle charging; (c) Other electricity uses excluded from site energy use by the benchmarking tool; and (d) Emissions from required combustion equipment under the following conditions: (i) Emissions from generators shall be excluded from the net direct emissions requirements if a federal or State regulation requires a covered building including a health care facility, laboratory, assisted living and nursing facility, military building, critical infrastructure, and a building used in life sciences to use a backup generator or other equipment that shall run on combustible fuels. (ii) A covered building is required to include emissions from a combustion generator/equipment if the relevant federal or State regulation is updated to allow battery storage and/or other types of systems that do not produce direct emissions. (6) Energy consumption for food service facilities can be excluded using a standard deduction formula in accordance with the Department’s TM 24-01 “Technical Guidance and Calculation Methodologies to Comply with Building Energy Performance Standards”, which is incorporated by reference in COMAR 26.28.01.03 when such energy consumption cannot be excluded using submetered or separately metered data. (7) Before submitting a benchmarking report, the building owner shall run all automated data quality checker functions available within the benchmarking tool and shall confirm that all data has been accurately entered into the tool. The building owner shall correct all missing or incorrect information as identified by the data quality checker prior to submitting the benchmarking report to the Department. (8) If a building owner is notified of an inaccuracy by the Department or other third party, then the building owner shall amend the information reported within the benchmarking tool, and shall provide the Department with an updated benchmarking submission within 30 days of learning of the inaccuracy. (9) The building owner of a mixed-use covered building shall use the benchmarking tool to report the gross floor area for all property types in the building. (10) The building owners of a covered building that is connected to district energy systems shall submit additional information to supplement the annual benchmarking report in accordance with the Department’s TM 24-01,“Technical Guidance and Calculation Methodologies to Comply with Building Energy Performance Standards”, which is incorporated by reference in COMAR 26.28.01.03. C. Third Party Verification of Benchmarking Reports. (1) The building owner shall have a third party verify the accuracy of benchmarking reports for calendar years: (a) 2025 (benchmarking report due in 2026); (b) 2030 (benchmarking report due in 2031); (c) 2035 (benchmarking report due in 2036); (d) 2040 (benchmarking report due in 2041); and (e) Every 5 years thereafter. (2) The building owner of a newly constructed covered building shall have a third party verify the first required benchmarking report and then comply with the schedule in this chapter for verification of subsequent reports. (3) The building owner shall provide to the third party verifier all utility bills, delivered fuel receipts, and other documentation needed by the verifier for the calendar year covered by the benchmarking report. (4) The building owner shall submit a copy of a third party verification to the Department when submitting the associated benchmarking report in accordance with the Department’s TM 24-01 “Technical Guidance and Calculation Methodologies to Comply with Building Energy Performance Standards”, which is incorporated by reference in COMAR 26.28.01.03. D. Maintenance of Historical Data. (1) The building owner shall maintain adequate records demonstrating compliance with this chapter, including but not limited to, energy bills, reports, forms, and records received from tenants or utilities and records. (2) Such records shall be preserved for a period no less than 5 years. (3) At the request of the Department, such records shall be made available for inspection and audit by the Department. E. Annual Reporting Fee. (1) A building owner shall pay an annual reporting fee for each covered building as defined in Environment Article, §2-1601, Annotated Code of Maryland. (2) The annual reporting fee is due by June 1st of each year beginning in 2026. (3) In 2026, the annual reporting fee is $100. (4) Beginning in 2027 and each year thereafter, the annual reporting fee is $100 as adjusted for inflation pursuant to §E(5) of this regulation. (5) Consumer Price Index. (a) The annual reporting fee rate set forth in this chapter shall be increased each calendar year by the percentage, if any, by which the Consumer Price Index for the most recent calendar year exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the previous calendar year. (b) The Consumer Price Index for any calendar year is the 12-month average of the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the U.S. Department of Labor. #### Regulation .03 Reporting Requirements of Tenants. *COMAR 26.28.02.03* A tenant of a covered building shall, within 30 days of a request by the building owner, provide all requested benchmarking information that cannot otherwise be acquired by the building owner from other sources. #### Regulation .04 Reporting Requirements of Electric and Gas Companies and District Energy Providers. *COMAR 26.28.02.04* A. Electric and Gas Companies. (1) Electric and gas companies delivering energy to a covered building shall maintain whole-building energy consumption data for all buildings, for at least the most recent 5 years in an electronic format capable of being uploaded to the benchmarking tool. (2) On and after January 1, 2025, upon the request and authorization of a building owner an electric or gas company shall provide the building owner with at least the most recent 12 consecutive months of whole building energy consumption data by fuel type for the specified building for all the fuel types provided by the company. (a) The electric or gas company shall provide data to the requestor as follows: (i) Data shall include whole building energy consumption, aggregating all utility meters that measure energy consumption at the building; (ii) Data shall be provided to the requestor within 90 days of receiving a data request in 2025; (iii) Data shall be provided to the requestor within 30 days of receiving a data request in 2026 or later; and (iv) Whole building energy consumption data shall be provided to the requestor in monthly intervals. (b) An electric or gas company may be exempt from §A(2)(a) of this regulation in accordance with §A(7) of this regulation. (3) Investor-owned electric and gas companies serving 40,000 or more customers shall use the benchmarking tool’s web services API to deliver data to requesters on an ongoing basis. (4) Investor-owned electric and gas companies serving fewer than 40,000 customers, municipal electric and gas companies, or cooperatively owned electric and gas companies shall provide data in the spreadsheet template specified by the benchmarking tool, or through the benchmarking tool’s web services API to requesters on an ongoing basis. (5) Electric and gas companies shall develop and maintain a process to identify and confirm with the building owner the list of meters that will be used to calculate the aggregated total as follows: (a) Electric and gas companies shall provide to the building owner a listing of all meters included in the whole building energy consumption data for verification purposes; and (b) If any correction or update takes place at a meter that is included in the whole building energy consumption data, then the affected value or values shall be proactively updated by the electric or gas company through the benchmarking tool’s web services API or through an updated spreadsheet template with a notification provided to the building owner/data requestor. (6) For covered buildings with five or more tenants, electric and gas companies shall deliver to requestors the monthly whole building energy consumption data capturing total consumption by fuel type of all relevant fuel or fuels across all meters at the building. (a) The whole building energy consumption data shall not be deemed confidential information by the electric and gas companies for purposes of delivery to the building owner. (b) Electric and gas companies will not be required to acquire explicit authorization for data release by the individual tenants. (7) For covered buildings with fewer than five tenants, electric and gas companies shall deliver whole building energy consumption data to the building owner if the building tenants provide written or electronic consent for the delivery of the tenant’s energy data to the building owner. (a) The building tenant’s consent may be provided in a lease agreement provision. (b) The building tenant’s consent is not required if an electric or gas company customer vacates the covered building before explicitly denying consent for the delivery of the tenant’s energy data to the building owner. (8) When providing whole-building consumption data to a property with onsite generation of renewable electricity (for example, solar or wind energy), electric and gas companies shall ensure that the consumption values delivered to the building owner capture total gross grid electricity consumption as metered by the electric or gas company, rather than net, or net-metered, consumption of grid electricity. B. District Energy Providers. (1) Starting no later than January 1, 2025, district energy providers shall maintain all records that are necessary to comply with this regulation for a period of not less than 5 years. At the request of the Department, such records shall be made available for inspection and audit by the Department. (2) District energy providers shall provide greenhouse gas emissions factors per unit of district energy input (steam, hot water, chilled water, etc.) to the owners of covered buildings and to the Department for benchmarking and compliance purposes. (3) Emissions factors and a full and detailed accounting of their calculation shall be provided by the district energy provider by March 1st of each calendar year and cover the previous calendar year based on actual fuel consumption and system performance data. The Department may require a third party review of such calculations paid for by the district energy provider. (4) District energy providers shall use methodology for allocating emissions that will be based on the “Efficiency Method” in the World Resources Institute’s “Calculation tool for direct emissions from stationary combustion: Allocation of GHG Emissions from a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant”. #### Regulation .05 Disclosure of Covered Building Benchmarking and Performance Standards Information. *COMAR 26.28.02.05* Before a buyer signs a contract for the purchase of a covered building, the building owner selling the covered building shall: A. Disclose to the prospective buyer that the building is subject to requirements under this subtitle; B. Transfer the following records to the prospective buyer: (1) A copy of the complete benchmarking record from the benchmarking tool; (2) Documentation of data verification; (3) Documentation of any alternative compliance fee made to the Department; and (4) Any other records relevant to maintain compliance under this subtitle; and C. Provide to the prospective buyer the following information: (1) Baseline performance; and (2) Interim and final performance standards.