West Hollywood EBPS Compliance

West Hollywood’s Equitable Building Performance Standards are part of the City’s broader effort to improve energy performance, resilience, and decarbonize the existing building stock. The ordinance establishes energy benchmarking and building performance requirements for covered buildings in the City of West Hollywood.

The ordinance is intended to implement the goals of West Hollywood’s 2021 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan by lowering the environmental impact of covered buildings through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and onsite energy consumption.

Covered property owners are required to complete annual building energy benchmarking and reporting. They must also demonstrate compliance with building performance standards either by meeting the applicable performance standard through the Building Performance Pathway (BPP) or, for interim standards, by submitting a Building Performance Action Plan (BPAP) that outlines how the building will improve performance and meet the final standard.

In short, West Hollywood’s EBPS moves buildings beyond simply tracking energy use. Covered buildings must benchmark annually and ultimately demonstrate measurable performance improvements.

Who Must Comply?

West Hollywood’s EBPS applies to existing buildings located within the City of West Hollywood with a gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or more that have received a certificate of occupancy. The ordinance applies whether the building was constructed before or after the adoption of the chapter. For buildings constructed after adoption, benchmarking and performance standard compliance begin in the first full calendar year after the certificate of occupancy is issued.

A Covered Property is any building that meets the applicability requirements of the ordinance. Gross Floor Area is defined as the total building square footage measured between the outside surface of the exterior walls.

The ordinance does not apply to:

• Buildings with less than 20,000 square feet of gross floor area

• One- and two-family dwellings and their accessory structures

• Multifamily properties with four or fewer dwelling units

• Broadcast antennas

• Utility pumping stations

• Buildings where a demolition permit for the entire building has been issued and demolition has commenced before the next interim performance standard deadline

• Buildings owned by public entities, other than the City of West Hollywood

• Other buildings that do not meet the purpose of the chapter, as determined by the Department Director or their designee

Residential condominiums are treated differently under the ordinance. They are exempt from the Building Performance Standards in Section 15.100.050, but they remain subject to benchmarking, data verification, and disclosures upon sale.

What’s Required?

Annual Benchmarking

Beginning in 2026, owners of each Covered Property must submit an annual Benchmarking Report by May 15. The report must detail the building’s energy use from the previous calendar year and must be submitted using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or another Energy Benchmarking Tool approved by the Department.

Owners must also request energy use data from each utility serving the property.

Benchmarking Reports must include descriptive information such as:

• Property address

• Gross Floor Area

• Property type

• Year built

• Number of stories

They must also include energy benchmarking information, including:

• Monthly energy billing amounts

• Annual maximum electric demand in kW and the corresponding date

• Monthly maximum electric demand in kW

Data Verification

By the 2026 benchmarking deadline, owners must have a qualified Energy Professional verify the accuracy of the Covered Property’s benchmarking data for the previous calendar year, January 1 through December 31, 2025. Verification must be submitted through the Energy Benchmarking Tool as part of the Benchmarking Report.

For buildings that receive a certificate of occupancy after adoption of the ordinance, data verification must occur by May 15 of the first full calendar year following issuance of the certificate of occupancy.

Building Performance Standards

The City will set Interim and Final Performance Standards for each property type. These standards will use either or both of the following performance metrics:

• Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI)

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity (GHGI)

The ordinance requires the Department to set Final Performance Standards that collectively reduce aggregate greenhouse gas emissions attributable to all Covered Properties by at least 80% by 2035.

Compliance Pathways

Covered Properties can demonstrate compliance through one of two pathways.

Building Performance Pathway (BPP)

Under the Building Performance Pathway, a Covered Property is considered compliant if it achieves the applicable performance standard by the required deadline and maintains that standard until the next performance standard deadline.

Building Performance Action Plan Pathway (BPAP)

If an owner believes the Covered Property cannot reasonably meet an Interim Performance Standard, the owner may submit a Building Performance Action Plan to the Department for approval. The BPAP must describe how the building will improve energy performance and ultimately meet the Final Performance Standard by May 15, 2036.

• Note: The city has extended the initial benchmarking and data verification deadline from May 15, 2026, to September 15, 2026.

The BPAP pathway is only available for the Interim Performance Standards. Owners must meet the Final Performance Standard through the Building Performance Pathway by May 15, 2036 (Now, September 15, 2026).

A BPAP must include proposed retrofit measures and timelines, expected compliance dates, a cost-benefit analysis, a current benchmarking report, and either an energy audit or retro-commissioning report. It must also include a Distributed Energy Resources opportunity report using the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory REopt tool or another method specified by the Department.

Extensions, Adjustments, and Exemptions

Owners may apply for an extension, adjustment, or exemption to a Performance Standard by submitting an application to the Department at least 180 days before the applicable Interim or Final Performance Standard submission deadline.

A Covered Property may be eligible if:

• The building did not have a certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate of occupancy for more than half of the baseline year

• The building was fully vacant for more than half of the calendar year required for annual benchmarking

• The building is under financial hardship

• The building is a Cultural Resource and requests adjustments to comply with applicable historic preservation requirements

• The property is a residential condominium, which is exempt from the Building Performance Standards but remains subject to benchmarking, data verification, and disclosures upon sale

Records and Disclosure

Owners must maintain records that the Department determines are necessary for enforcement. These may include energy bills, reports or forms received from tenants or utilities, BPAPs, and records demonstrating compliance with Interim or Final Performance Standards. Records must be preserved for five years and made available for inspection or audit upon request. If a Covered Property is sold, the records must be provided to the new owner.

The ordinance also requires property sale agreements in West Hollywood to include a disclosure stating that the City has adopted building energy benchmarking and performance requirements for different types of buildings.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

The City may issue notices of violation for violations of the ordinance. No penalty may be assessed before 30 days after receipt of a notice of violation, or if the owner corrects the violation within 30 days.

Failure to meet annual benchmarking reporting requirements may result in a citation and fine not to exceed $1,000.

If a Covered Property fails to meet Interim or Final Performance Standards and does not have an approved BPAP, the owner may be subject to fines equal to the Social Cost of Carbon for each unachieved CO2e reduction. Fine payments may be required annually until compliance is achieved.

If a property violates annual reporting requirements, fails to meet performance standards, and does not have an approved BPAP, the owner may be subject to a penalty of up to $10 per square foot multiplied by the Covered Property’s Gross Floor Area.

If the City determines that an owner submitted an inaccurate report, or if there is a discrepancy of more than 50% between third-party verified data and the owner’s self-certified reporting data, the owner may be cited and fined $1,000.