On February 20, 2018, the Mayor & City Council passed an ordinance to adopt Montgomery County’s Building Energy Benchmarking Legislation. The ordinance took effect December 31, 2018.

Since the City opted into Montgomery County’s ordinance, any modifications to the legislation at the County level automatically apply in the City of Gaithersburg.

On April 19, 2022, the Montgomery County Council unanimously voted to pass Bill 16-21, Environmental Sustainability – Building Energy Use Benchmarking & Performance Standards – Amendments. The amendments modified the legislation in two keys ways: 1) Additional buildings are being covered; and 2) Building energy performance standards are being established.

Additional Buildings Covered

• The law originally applied to certain non-residential buildings of 50,00 square feet or greater
• With the amendment, residential & commercial buildings that are 25,000 gross square feet or greater will now be covered under the law.
• Compliance timeline requirements depend on the building type.

Group 1 & 2	Currently covered by Benchmarking Law: County & privately-owned non-residential buildings 50,000 gross square feet & larger	Currently Required
Group 3	County & privately-owned non-residential buildings 25,000 to 50,000 gross square feet, and buildings previously exempted by the Benchmarking Law	June 2023
Group 4	Residential buildings 250,000 square feet or greater	June 2023
Group 5	Residential buildings between 50,000 & 250,000 square feet	June 2024

• Benchmark energy data in the ENERGY STAR^® Portfolio Manager^® annually
• Complete verification of data for the first year and every third year of reporting
• Report benchmarking data to the County using the Portfolio Manager

More detailed information and instructions on submitting the required energy data are available through Montgomery County’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program.

Establishment of Building Energy Performance Standards

Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) will be established & phased in based on building type. BEPS are policies that establish performance levels for buildings over the long term with required progress at regular intervals. BEPS set a minimum threshold for energy performance for existing buildings that are based on and measured against a building’s demonstrated energy performance as shown in its benchmarking data. Performance standards have not yet been defined. The legislation requires that the regulations defining the performance standards be finalized by December 31, 2023.

For more information about the establishment of regulations & overall management of BEPS, please visit the County’s Building Energy Performance Standards website.