Most building owners think the risk is a missed submission. It’s not. The real risk is what happens after you submit incomplete or inaccurate data. Because under Maryland BEPS, your benchmarking data doesn’t just get filed—it gets used.
Benchmarking feeds directly into:
•Emissions tracking
•Performance standards
• Compliance evaluations
If your data is wrong:
•Your building could appear less efficient than it actually is
•Your future targets could become harder to meet
•Your penalty exposure could increase
Yes, there are penalties for not filing. But the bigger issue is long-term exposure. From 2030 onwards, buildings that exceed emissions limits will face financial penalties tied to their performance gap. That’s not a one-time cost. That’s recurring liability.
Here’s what we’re seeing:
• Incomplete utility data
• Missing tenant consumption
• Incorrect building characteristics
• Poor system setup in Portfolio Manager
These aren’t small issues. They compound over time.
You wouldn’t submit financial statements without reviewing them. Benchmarking should be treated the same way.
Because it represents:
• The performance of your asset
• The efficiency of your operations
• The future cost of your building
Waiting creates three problems:
1. Limited time to fix data issues
2. Increased likelihood of errors
3. Reduced ability to plan improvements
And once the data is submitted, you’re locked into that version of your building.
They’re not treating benchmarking as a deadline. They’re treating it as a system.
They’re:
• Reviewing data monthly
• Tracking performance trends
• Using benchmarking to guide decisions
That’s how you reduce risk before it becomes cost.
Maryland benchmarking is not about compliance. It’s about control. And the earlier you take it seriously, the less it costs you over time.