Evaluation and Enforcement
Performance Evaluation
The Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency will begin the performance evaluation process on June 1 for each year there is a target due (for example: the 2024 target will begin evaluation on June 1, 2025). The process includes:
If the building’s current site EUI is higher than the target, the building is not in compliance with that year’s performance requirement.
We will notify building owners of compliance status by an email from EnergizeDenver@denvergov.org. If we do not have an email on file, we will mail a physical letter to the building’s main address.
Penalties
We prefer that you invest in your building to reach your 2030 target instead of paying penalties to the city. We know there are some things we, as a city and local building industry, need to work through to get all of our buildings in compliance, such as
- Renewable contract and installation capacity
- Capacity within electrical micro grids in certain areas
- Workforce availability
- Supply chain issues
- Research on additional target adjustments
Our commitment is to work with your building, support you with your efforts, and explore target and timeline adjustments to the fullest extent possible so that penalties are not assessed. For buildings that are not working with our office and putting forth a good faith effort to improve their buildings, the penalty structure below will be enforced.
Types of Penalties
There are two main types of penalties:
- Target Penalties: Occur if the building does not reach the 2024 Interim Target, 2027 Interim Target, or 2030 Target
- Maintenance Penalties: Occur after 2030, if you fail to maintain your 2030 Target indefinitely. If your annual site EUI is 5% worse than the target you are supposed to be maintaining, we will switch you back to the target penalty level until you achieve the target again.
We may assess penalties for other reasons:
- A complete and accurate benchmarking report was not submitted by the annual deadline
- Knowingly withholding information or submitting inaccurate information that affects performance evaluation
- Failing to satisfy the requirements of an Alternate Compliance Timeline Adjustment agreement
- Errors in data you have submitted to the city, such as:
- Energy use data
- Solar generation and capacity
- Use attributes
- Building information
- Calculations
- Results
You will have to correct these errors, submit the updated benchmarking report, and notify us of the updated submission. Failure to correct the errors is the same as failure to submit a complete and accurate report for that year.
For the performance requirements, penalties are assessed by taking the “kBtu not achieved” as calculated in the Performance Evaluation section of this guide, then multiplying it by the cost per kBtu to calculate the penalty amount.
“kBtu not achieved” * Cost/kBtu = $ penalty amount
Penalty Schedule
The Energize Denver Ordinance enables the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency to assess civil penalties for up to $0.70 for each required kBtu reduction per year that the owner’s covered building fails to achieve in that year. We reserve the right to enforce penalties at the maximum level but will assess penalties at the minimum level below, based on a cost of compliance analysis(PDF, 991KB) completed in June 2022:
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Benchmarking, failure to correct errors, knowingly withholding or inaccurate information
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| Target Penalty - Alternate Compliance Option for Existing MAI Buildings |
$0.42/kBtu |
2026, 2030 |
| Target Penalty - Alternate Compliance Option for New MAI Buildings |
$0.63/kBtu |
2030 |
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Starting 2031 then annually
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Failure to reach target as agreed in Alternate Compliance Agreement
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According to date of submission in Table 5
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Example Compliance Scenarios with Penalties
We encourage you to take early action to reach your interim and final targets because penalties are cumulative. In all these examples, we used the minimum level for target penalties for a 150,000 sq. ft. office building.
Example # 1: A building that does nothing to improve their EUI. This building:
Example # 2: A building makes some progress on their 2030 target but did not take advantage of the renewables credit to fill in the gap. This building:
Example # 3: A building knows they are going to miss their 2024 target. They purchased renewables instead of submitting a timeline adjustment application. They did make some progress on their 2030 target and used renewables again in 2030 to fill in the gap. This building:
Example # 4: A building was planning a renovation with energy efficiency measures for 2024 along with some operational adjustments and a solar installation in 2025. They submitted a timeline adjustment application to account for this. The timeline agreement sets their new target dates for 2026 and 2030. This building:
Example # 5: A building that reaches their 2030 target and is shifted to maintenance penalty levels. For 2031, the building maintains their EUI target, and even performs a little better in 2032. In 2033, the building’s energy performance worsens, resulting in a small maintenance penalty. In 2034, the building’s performance continues to worsen to more than 5% above their EUI target. At this point, the penalty is switched back to the target penalty level. In 2035, if the building has gotten their energy performance back within 5% of the EUI target, they will be switched back to the smaller maintenance penalty level. If they get their energy performance at or below their EUI target they will no longer receive penalties. This building:
- Building met their 2030 target and switched to maintenance penalties
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Maintained target for two years but went above 5% threshold in 2034, so target penalty level assessed (5% threshold = 50.7 EUI or 7,605,000 kBtu)
Enforcement Process
Benchmarking Requirements Enforcement Steps
- Warning Notice: Once the deadline has passed, Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency will send a warning notice by email/mail. The building owner will have a 30- to 60-day grace period (specified in the notice) from the benchmarking deadline to submit the benchmarking report or correct data issues in a “pending” submission.
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Civil Penalty - Administrative Citation: If the building owner is not in compliance by the end of the grace period, an administrative citation is issued. The building owner has 30 days to either submit the benchmarking report (which nullifies the citation) or file an appeal.
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Payment: If the building owner does not file an appeal or submit the benchmarking report, the owner has one hundred eighty (180) days from the date of the citation to pay the penalty amount.
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Property Lien: If a building owner fails to pay the required amount within one hundred eighty (180) days, the civil penalty will be considered a debt to the city until paid in full. The debt is a perpetual lien on the property until the civil penalty owed, delinquent interest, and recording fees have been paid in full.
Performance Requirements Enforcement Steps
- Warning Notice: Once the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency determines that the building is not in compliance, a warning notice will be sent to the building owner. The owner will have ninety (90) days from the date of the warning notice to apply for an alternate compliance option (ACO), if applicable.
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Notice of Violation: If the building owner has not applied for an ACO on by the end of the 90 days, CASR will issue a notice of violation. The building owner will have thirty (30) days to file an appeal of the notice of violation.
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Civil Penalty – Administrative Citation: If the building owner has not filed an appeal, an administrative citation is issued. The building owner has one hundred eighty (180) days to pay the penalty with the manager of finance.
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Property Lien: If a building owner fails to pay the required amount within one hundred eighty (180) days, the civil penalty will be considered a debt to the city until paid in full. The debt is a perpetual lien on the property until the civil penalty owed, delinquent interest, and recording fees have been paid in full.
Appeals
A building owner has the right to appeal an administrative citation by filing a “petition for appeal.” All documents must be submitted through the online form or mailed to:
Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency
201 W. Colfax Avenue, Dept. 704
Denver, CO 80201