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February 25, 2025 | Legal Advisory

The Commonwealth is beginning collection of energy usage data for large buildings.

As many property owners already know, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has begun sending letters to building owners informing them of their obligation to report energy usage for buildings over 20,000 gross square feet. This is part of the Large Building Energy Reporting (LBER) Program that the Legislature created in 2022 as part of An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind. G.L. ch. 25A § 20.

The LBER law requires disclosure of energy use data for buildings over 20,000 square feet (Covered Buildings) starting in June 2025. Electric, gas, and steam utility companies are designated to report usage data on behalf of Covered Buildings. Owners or agents of these buildings (Building Owners) must also report consumption of other energy sources, including oil, propane, wood, and on-site renewable energy generation.

DOER is currently finalizing its LBER regulations (225 CMR 27.00), which will further detail the responsibilities of electric, gas, and steam utilities and Building Owners. For instance, Guidelines regarding what is included and excluded from “gross floor area” under the law will be made available soon.

To start the reporting program, on January 29, 2025, DOER released a draft Covered Buildings List (CBL) to assist Building Owners in determining whether their properties fall under the LBER law, locating their Universal Building Identifiers, and claiming their buildings. Claiming a building allows owners to comply with the LBER law, manage their property records, and stay informed about policy updates and compliance requirements. Failure to receive a letter or claim a building, however, does not relieve a property owner of any obligations under the LBER regulations.

Building Owners can visit the Massachusetts Building Energy Analysis Manager (BEAM) Portal for detailed guidance and to comply with the LBER law. In addition, DOER’s Large Building Energy Reporting Knowledgebase includes Builder Owner Guidance, important dates and deadlines, and a FAQ section.

Large Building Energy Reporting Deadlines

Building Owners should be aware of the following deadlines outlined in the current draft of the LBER regulations.

• March 15, 2025 – Building Owners must submit a request to exempt a building from reporting (click to submit a request to DOER). Certain Covered Buildings are exempt from reporting if they meet one of the following criteria:
  • Vacant for a full calendar year.
  • Demolished in the previous year.
  • More than 50% vacant due to natural causes (e.g., fire, flood, wind damage).
  • The owner has filed for or been dissolved in bankruptcy.
  • Other unique or unforeseen circumstances as determined by DOER.
• March 30, 2025 – DOER will post the final CBL that includes all Covered Buildings subject to reporting requirements.
  • DOER will notify Building Owners of their reporting obligations under the LBER regulations alongside the publication of the CBL. The notice will include details on Covered Buildings, reporting deadlines, instructions, and other relevant requirements. However, failure to receive this notice does not exempt owners from their reporting responsibilities under the regulations.
  • If a building is not included in the CBL, but meets the criteria of a Covered Building, Building Owners must submit DOER’s Covered Buildings List Addition Form.
  • If there is a discrepancy in building information on the CBL, Building Owners can submit DOER’s Update Covered Buildings List Information Form.
  • A newly constructed building will be added to the CBL for the calendar year in which the previous reported year’s energy usage must be reported (Compliance Year) if it received a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or Certificate of Occupancy at any point prior to the reporting year.
  • A Building Owner can request to designate multiple buildings as a Campus and report energy usage accordingly. DOER will review requests and reporting plans on a case-by-case basis.
• April 30, 2025 – Building Owners must submit a request to dispute inclusion in the CBL (click to submit a request to DOER). A Building Owner may dispute that its building requires reporting if:
  • The building’s gross floor area is less than 20,000 sf, there is an inaccurate floor area measurement, or the gross floor area is under 20,000 sf when excluding the following parts of the building: exterior spaces; balconies; patios; exterior loading docks; driveways; covered walkways; outdoor play courts (tennis, basketball, etc.); attached or exterior parking; the interstitial plenum space between floors (that house pipes and ventilation); and crawl spaces.
  • The building is a duplicate property.
  • The building was demolished.
  • For other reasons accepted by DOER.
• June 30, 2025 – Building Owners must report energy usage for Compliance Year 2025.
  • Electric, gas, and steam utility companies and municipal lighting plants are required to report energy usage for all Covered Buildings for the previous calendar year by May 30 of each year.
  • Other energy sources must be reported by the Building Owner directly.
  • Building Owners must report energy usage not provided by a utility company for all Covered Buildings for the previous calendar year by June 30 of each year.
    • If a Building Owner is required to report energy usage under local ordinances like Boston’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance or Cambridge’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance, they can fulfill their reporting obligations by submitting the same information to DOER that they provided to the municipality.
    • On a case-by-case basis, Building Owners can request an extension by providing an explanation and proposed extension date to DOER.
    • If a Building Owner fails to provide required energy usage information, DOER may issue a notice and impose a fine of up to $150 per day if the information is not submitted within 30 days. The fine cannot be passed on to lessees occupying less than 5% of the building’s gross floor area.
  • A Building Owner will not be penalized for missing energy reporting if the energy was ordered, delivered, and billed directly to a lessee—provided the owner requests the data in writing by April 30, receives no response by June 25, and submits proof of the request to DOER.
    • If a lessee occupying more than 5% of a covered building’s gross floor area fails to respond within 30 days to a Building Owner's request for energy usage data, DOER may issue a notice and impose a fine of up to $150 per day if the information remains unsubmitted after an additional 30 days.
  • DOER may issue an Additional Owner Disclosure Guideline to account for extra or offsetting energy use related to operational resilience or emissions mitigation. This may include adjustments for electric vehicle electricity use, battery storage, solar energy under different metering setups, and other distributed generation sources.
• October 31, 2025 – DOER will publish the first disclosure reports on its website.
  • DOER will publish energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions for each Covered Building on its website, in both database and map formats, with data sortable by municipality, zip code, and other elements.

This advisory was prepared by Matt Snell, Matt Connolly, and Michelle Kenyon in Nutter’s Real Estate Department. For more information, please contact the authors or your Nutter attorney at 617.439.2000.

This advisory is for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. Under the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, this material may be considered as advertising.