How to get an exemption or more time for benchmarking reports

(a) The owner of a covered property may request an exemption from submitting a benchmarking report for a reporting year if any one or more of the following conditions for the calendar year to be benchmarked are met: (1) The property did not have a certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate of occupancy for the entire year required to be benchmarked; (2) A demolition permit for the entire building was issued and demolition work has commenced prior to the benchmarking report due date for that year; (3) The property did not receive energy or water utility services for more than a total of 30 days during that year; or (4) Due to special circumstances unique to the property, compliance with the provisions of this article would not be in the public interest. (b) The owner of a covered property that contains more than six tenant meters from a single utility may request an exemption from submitting a specified portion of a benchmarking report for a reporting year if the owner, despite good faith efforts, is unable to obtain aggregated whole-building data from that utility. Documentation of good faith efforts must be provided to the department and must include multiple requests by the owner for aggregated whole-building data from the utility or written communication from the utility stating its inability to provide aggregated whole-building data. An owner of a covered property granted an exemption from submitting a specified portion of a benchmarking report shall be required to enter and submit all other data, not covered by the exemption, that are necessary to benchmark the property. (c) Any owner requesting an exemption from benchmarking must, no later than 30 days before the reporting deadline, submit to the department any documentation reasonably necessary to substantiate the request or otherwise assist the department in the exemption determination. The granting of any exemption is limited to the benchmarking report for which the request was made and does not extend to past or future submittals. (d) An owner may apply for a time extension to complete and submit a benchmarking report if, despite the owner’s good faith efforts, it is unable to complete the required actions prior to the reporting deadline. The owner requesting an extension must, prior to the reporting deadline, submit to the department any documentation reasonably necessary to substantiate the request or otherwise assist the department in the determination. For each property, the department may grant no more than two such extensions per year of no more than 60 days each.