Since your building’s baseline is more than 20% away from the standard and you are interested in a prescribed approach to energy savings, working in collaboration with DOEE, we recommend selecting the Prescriptive Pathway.

Prescriptive Pathway

This pathway was designed to help mitigate the risk of not meeting performance targets. As long as you successfully implement the specific approved energy efficiency measures and meet all reporting/verification requirements, the building will comply with BEPS, regardless of its actual, measured energy performance. Unlike the Performance Pathway, you are not measure against actual building performance, but rather by whether or not you completed certain actions.

While this type of approach provides assurance that your building will comply even if your building doesn’t reach the targeted level of energy reductions, it comes with the burden of 1) additional administrative requirements, and 2) implementation of energy efficiency measures that achieve at least 25% savings from your baseline site EUI.

Delays

If one of the noted special circumstances occur by the end of the compliance cycle, you can request a delay of up to two years, which would be in addition to the one year delay automatically granted for the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (for a total of up to three years). If you’re considered qualifying affordable housing, you can request an additional delay for more than two years. In order to be granted the delay, you must demonstrate how the circumstances of the applicable eligibility criteria make it practically infeasible for your building to meet the performance requirements during the compliance cycle.

A building owner should request a delay only if meeting the energy performance requirements is practically infeasible by the end of a cycle. DOEE is more likely to approve a delay request if the building owner has demonstrated compliance efforts through other strategies first (such as improved operations and maintenance efforts, implemented low- or no-cost energy efficiency measures, conducted an energy audit, etc.). The presence of one or more of the eligible circumstances does not necessarily mean that the building cannot meet performance requirements. Ultimately, DOEE will determine if a delay is acceptable, so keep in mind that requests are not guarantees of approval.

It’s important to note that a delay approved during the compliance cycle does not delay the requirement for a building to meet the BEPS established for the next BEPS period or the requirements of the next compliance cycle. Therefore, we recommend thinking through the long-term implications of applying for a delay.

For more information, you should review the:

Final BEPS Compliance Regulations
BEPS Compliance and Enforcement Guidebook, specifically Sections 3.3 – Prescriptive Pathway which outlines specific requirements for each of the four phases of this Pathway and 5.2 – Eligible Circumstances and Request Process for All Buildings for more information.

Select Prescriptive Pathway in the Pathway Selection Form and submit a copy of your energy audit by April 1, 2023. Unlike the Performance or Standard Target Pathways, building owners seeking to follow the Prescriptive Pathway must submit an Energy Audit at the same time as the Pathway Selection. DOEE will not approve the selection of the Prescriptive Pathway unless the building owner has submitted the Energy Audit. These two requirements make up Phase 1 of the Prescriptive Pathway’s reporting/verification requirements.

To assist you with conducting an energy audit, the Building Innovation Hub has a few resources for you.

Energy Audit Scope of Work, to assist with scope development and soliciting bids from potential vendors.
Find-A-Vendor notification system, to alert vendors of the project opportunity.

A Delay of Compliance Request should be completed before the end of the Compliance Cycle and submitted through the Portal.

Property Type