The City of Ann Arbor's City Council unanimously adopted the Energy and Water Benchmarking Ordinance (City Code 104) in October 2021. The ordinance requires that building owners and managers of buildings greater than 20,000 square feet benchmark - or track - their building's energy and water use. This data is reported annually to the City of Ann Arbor through the EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool.
Learn more about the development of Ann Arbor's Energy and Water Benchmarking Ordinance.
Covered Properties (buildings and campuses of buildings) greater than 20,000 square feet are required to submit a benchmarking report to the City of Ann Arbor. Covered Properties are required to submit data for the calendar years below based on their gross floor area.
20,000-49,999 sq. ft.: 2023 and 2024 calendar years
50,000-99,999 sq. ft.: 2022, 2023 and 2024 calendar years
100,000 and greater sq ft.: 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 calendar years
On June 1, 2025, all buildings and campuses of buildings greater than 20,000 square feet are required to benchmark to the City. Covered property square footage is estimated based on information available at the tax parcel level.
Properties comprised of more than one building that fall under the following property types may benchmark each building separately but must report all associated buildings to the City of Ann Arbor as a single campus.
Properties that are not one of the property types above should benchmark and report each building separately. Please contact benchmarking@a2gov.org for more information.
Look up your covered property and their Ann Arbor Benchmarking ID using the lists below:
Ann Arbor Benchmarking Covered Building List - 2025 (Excel)
Ann Arbor Benchmarking Covered Building List - 2025 (PDF)
Property and building addresses can be different for multiple purposes, so it is recommended to look up a building using its Tax Parcel ID.
Look up Parcel IDs based on address using Map Ann Arbor.
Is your building required to report in 2025? Complete the Benchmarking Contact Information Form to receive updates on benchmarking your building.
Ann Arbor Benchmarking Compliance Checklist
Follow an overview of the steps to submit a benchmarking report to the City of Ann Arbor.
How to Benchmark with the City of Ann Arbor
Detailed steps for benchmarking and submitting a report.
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Quick Start Guide
Get started using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM).
Some properties covered by the ordinance by square footage may eligible for an exemption from submitting a benchmarking report. If you believe you may be exempt, complete the Exemption Request Form. Be sure to include any supporting documentation for your request.
See the most Frequently Asked Questions before starting to benchmark. The City also created How-To Videos for specific benchmarking steps and a comprehensive guide to benchmarking: How to Benchmark with the City of Ann Arbor.
The Ann Arbor 2030 District offers free benchmarking services to member buildings. There is no cost for Property Owner/Manager membership or to benchmark your building(s). Join the District to get started, or contact them at A2benchmarking@2030districts.org to learn more.
If you require additional assistance and prefer to discuss your inquiry by Teams, Zoom, or phone with the City's Benchmarking Support Team, you may schedule a 60-minute or 30-minute meeting with the team, directly.
Complying with the Benchmarking Ordinance involves three main steps.
Set up your property profile(s) in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM), a free benchmarking tool through the US EPA.
Create an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Account
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Quick Start Guide
Get started using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM).
Learn how to get started with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, a free tool used to benchmark buildings.
ESPM: How to Set Up Your Property Guide
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Quick Start Guide
Get started using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM).
Gather and upload utility data for each property. Depending on which utilities you use, uploading this data can be automated.
DTE: Electricity & Natural Gas
Learn how to access electricity and natural gas data with DTE and uploading data. Whole-building aggregate data can be accessed and automatically uploaded using the DTE Energy Data Hub. Learn more with the guides below.
NOTE: At this time, building owners MUST be an Ann Arbor 2030 District Member to access the DTE Energy Data Hub. Contact the District at A2benchmarking@2030districts.org to learn more.
Requests to the DTE Energy Data Hub must be made by May 15 to receive data by June 1.
DTE Energy Data Hub Guide: Getting Started
DTE Energy Data Hub: Login Website
DTE Energy Data Hub ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Connection Guide: Connecting to ESPM
ESPM How to Get Utility Data into Portfolio Manager Guide: How to manually upload data
Does your building have five or fewer tenants?
Buildings with five or fewer tenants require tenant authorization to aggregate whole-building energy data. Building owners are required to request this authorization from their tenants using the following process:
Send the City of Ann Arbor Tenant Data Request Letter and DTE's online tenant customer consent form to the building tenants. This link will be provided to you directly from DTE and will be unique for each Covered Property.
If a tenant does not authorize the release of their data, complete the Tenant Data Unavailable form.
Constellation: Electricity & Natural Gas
Some building owners may use Constellation Energy, a choice natural gas provider. Read the guide below to learn how to access and upload natural gas data.
Constellation Natural Gas Benchmarking Guide: How to download and upload data
Read the guides below to learn how to access water data and set up automatic data uploads.
Benchmarking Water Data Guide
Submit your benchmarking report(s). Reports can be set up to run automatically, or they can be submitted manually each year. The City strongly recommends automated report. This reduces the work required by Covered Properties to comply each year and only needs to be set up once.
Connect your property to the City of Ann Arbor to automate your annual benchmarking report. You will not have to generate and submit an annual report each year or create a new one to fix errors, which will streamline the annual process:. Follow the steps 1-5 in pages 9-13 in the How to Benchmark with the City of Ann Arbor guide.
Manually submit a benchmarking report. You will have to repeat this process each year and if you need to fix any errors in your report
Questions? Comments? Email benchmarking@a2gov.org
Need Assistance?
Contact the City's Benchmarking Support Team
Email the team at benchmarking@a2gov.org
OR
Schedule a 60-minute meeting
Schedule a 30-minute meeting
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