SACRAMENTO, CA-GlobeSt.com has learned that enforcement of California's commercial-building energy-disclosure law, AB 1103, has been delayed until September 1. The law was originally set to go into effect July 1.

As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this month, the new law requires commercial-building owners to disclose a building's historical energy usage prior to selling, leasing, or financing the asset. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 1103 into law in 2007, and the implementation of the law has been postponed several times. The California Energy Commission postponed implementation to consider a host of concerns from the real estate industry. The key element to the law is getting the data efficiently from the utility companies, and the California Energy Commission has worked with the utilities to make this process easy and automated.

Also as GlobeSt.com reported earlier this month, the law will impose requirements on property owners and brokers once it takes effect, but early planning can go a long way toward easing the growing pains predicted for each, said Elizabeth Watson, a partner in the Los Angeles law firm Greenberg Glusker, who spoke at the recent AIR Commercial Real Estate Association seminar series in Orange, CA.

Despite the delay, “compliance is encouraged 'to the extent feasible' during the interim,” Watson now tells GlobeSt.com.

According to the CEC, the reason for the delay is that the Energy Star Portfolio Manager will be unavailable for public use during a planned upgrade to the system between June 24 and July 9. Additionally, several California investor-owned utilities have indicated that they will not be able to upload energy-use data to owners' Portfolio Manager accounts under section 1684(b) of the regulations for an additional two weeks after Portfolio Manager is back online. This coincides with the implementation date of AB 1103; therefore, the CEC will suspend enforcement of these regulations until September 1.

Until that date, the CEC encourages nonresidential building owners to disclose the required information to prospective buyers, lenders, lessees and lenders to the extent feasible. For recommendations on how to comply with the regulations while Portfolio Manager is unavailable, please see Frequently Asked Questions at www.energy.ca.gov/ab1103/index.html.

Instant Insights /

Energy Commission Delays Bill Enforcement

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