Berkeley BESO compliance, filed for you
The Berkeley Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO) requires covered buildings to report energy use every year. We gather the data, check it, and file it — usually within a week.
Who’s covered
Commercial, municipal and multifamily buildings of 15,000 sq ft or more report every year.
Annual deadline
July 1 for the previous calendar year.
Verification
No routine third-party verification — but the program runs its own data checks, so accuracy still matters.
Penalties
Daily citations starting at $100 per violation, rising to $200 and then $500 for repeat citations.
What to report
All energy used by the whole building — including tenant spaces — for January 1 to December 31:
- Electricity — every meter serving the building
- Natural gas
- District steam, hot or chilled water, if you have it
- Delivered fuels (oil, diesel, propane) — all delivery receipts for the year
- On-site solar production, if any
- Water — we’ll confirm whether it’s required for your building
Leave out backup generator fuel. Note any meters added or removed during the year.
Good to know
- Buildings over 25,000 sq ft need an energy assessment every five years; smaller buildings need one at time of sale.
- Buildings that report to Berkeley don’t file separately under California’s AB 802.
What we’ll need from you
- Building address, plus any utility service addresses that differ from it
- Gross floor area for the whole building and each use (office, retail, residential…), number of units and year built
- Your Berkeley BESO ID (we can look it up)
- Utility data for the full calendar year, January 1 – December 31 (usually 13 months of bills)
- If tenants pay their own utilities: whole-building (aggregated) data from the utility, or signed tenant authorization forms
- Access to your ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account, if you have one
- Any notice or letter you received about this law
Berkeley BESO questions
When is the Berkeley BESO deadline?
Does Berkeley BESO apply to my building?
What happens if I miss it?
Official program information: Berkeley BESO website. Requirements change — we confirm current rules for every filing.