Large Building Energy Reporting Policy

The Commonwealth's policy requiring disclosure of energy information for large buildings

Large Building Energy Reporting (LBER) is a law, from An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind (The Acts of 2022 ch.179, § 41), that created M.G.L ch. 25A §20 to require disclosure of Energy Usage data for Buildings greater than or equal to 20,000 square feet (Covered Buildings) starting in 2025.

The law requires electric, gas, and steam utilities to report Energy Usage data on behalf of Covered Buildings. It requires Building Owners or agents of Covered Buildings to report usage of additional energy sources such as oil, propane, wood, and on-site renewable energy generation.

Misleading Letter from Mass Benchmarking re: Large Building Energy Reporting

DOER is aware that a misleading letter was sent to building owners on the LBER Covered Buildings List from Mass Benchmarking, Beacon Benchmarking Helpdesk.

DOER is not affiliated with those entities and those solicitations are not part of the Massachusetts Large Building Energy Reporting Program. The LBER pages on DOER’s website (which have a mass.gov URL) and the Knowledge Base at the LBER Helpdesk are the only sources of official information about the Program.

The misleading letter includes the building’s address and Unique Building ID and says that the building is not compliant with the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Large Building Energy Reporting Program.

The misleading letter asks building owners to register their property with MassBenchmarking.com and pay for automated monthly compliance.

You do not need to do this! Under Massachusetts’ Large Building Energy Reporting Program, most reports will be provided directly from utility companies and require no action from building owners. In some cases, building owners may need to, or can choose to, self report at no cost.

No third party paid service is required to be in compliance with this program.

If you have any questions, please email [e-mail] or call 888-383-8541.

What is LBER?

Massachusetts' Large Building Energy Reporting (LBER) is a law that requires DOER to publicly disclose the Energy Usage of Buildings over 20,000 square feet. It offers transparency to Building stakeholders like tenants and municipalities about Building Energy Usage. The law was signed in 2022.

The law requires electric, gas, and steam utilities to report the information they have on behalf of Building Owners and requires Building Owners to report any additional Energy Usage, like fuel oil, propane, wood, or on-site solar generation.

On March 31st, DOER published the final Covered Buildings List which contains the list of Buildings that have reporting obligations under LBER for 2025.  It can help building owners and agents determine if they are subject to the LBER law, notify utilities what buildings’ energy use needs to be reported, and to notify Building Owners if they need to report other energy usage by June 30^th.  Because this is the first year of the LBER policy, Building Owners still have time to find their properties' Universal Building IDentifiers (UBID), and claim their building, which ensures that DOER has accurate building and contact information for owners, or dispute their Building’s inclusion on the Covered Buildings List. In addition, DOER is sending notifications to Building Owners of record in April of 2025 informing them that their Buildings' Energy Usage will need to be disclosed. Building Owners claiming their Building ensures that they can comply with the LBER law, manage their buildings’ record(s), and get up-to-date information on LBER policy changes and compliance activities. For more detailed information about how to comply with the LBER law, go to the How to respond to your Large Building Energy Reporting Letter page.

LBER Timeline

• Prior to March 30 – DOER will post a draft Covered Buildings List. Owners who claim Buildings prior to this date help refine the draft covered buildings list.
• March 30 - DOER will post the final Covered Buildings List containing the official list of Buildings that have reporting obligations under LBER for 2025.
• June 30 - Reports of energy usage will be due from utility companies, Municipal Utilities, and Building Owners
• October 31 - DOER will publish LBER disclosure reports

To be notified of LBER policy developments, please claim your building.  If you are not a covered building owner, you can sign up for DOER’s BER mailing list. 

If you have questions in the meantime, please email [e-mail].

Large Building Energy Reporting (LBER) Regulation

The final version of 225 CMR 27.00: Building Energy Reporting went into effect on February 28^th, 2025. The final regulation incorporates feedback received by the public in September of 2024.  The linked Regulation is UNOFFICIAL. Official regulations can be obtained from the Secretary of State's office.

If you have any questions about the final regulation, please direct them to [e-mail].

In addition, DOER is providing the following for stakeholders:

• A redlined version of the draft showing what changes were made based on public comment
• All written public comment received

• A summary of the comments and DOER’s responses

Additional LBER Policy Development

In the regulation, DOER commits to continuing the public conversation about LBER implementation through public comment periods on the following Guidelines:

• Calculating Gross Floor Area
• Exempt Building Uses 
• Distribution Company, Steam Distribution Company, and Municipal Utility Reporting 
• Building Owner Reporting 
• Additional Owner Disclosure 
• Methodology for Calculating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

DOER published a draft Gross Floor Area Guideline and issued stakeholder questions on building exemptions for public comment on March 31, 2025.  Upon review of the public comments and in light of the statutory deadline for publishing the first annual building database and report, DOER has elected to delay the finalization of all guidelines until after the completion of its first annual energy usage reporting period. Instructions for reporting in 2025 have been provided at the LBER webpage. Questions not covered by these materials may be directed to the LBER Helpdesk.

 To be notified of public comment periods for Guidelines, please sign up for DOER’s BER mailing list. If you have questions in the meantime, please email [e-mail].

Municipal Utility Reporting in 2025

On May 14, 2025, DOER granted a request from the municipal lighting plants (MLPs) to waive the reporting requirements for MLPs for Compliance Year 2025. Building Owners in MLP service territories will not be required to report MLP supplied Energy Usage to DOER for Compliance Year 2025. Building Owners will be responsible for reporting Energy Usage only from delivered fuels and other non-utility sources of energy consumption as detailed in the program compliance instructions.

If a Building Owner in an MLP service territory would like to report MLP supplied Energy Usage voluntarily to DOER, they may request this information directly from their MLP.  DOER is currently working with the MLPs on this process and will provide details at a later date.  Please note, any voluntarily submitted MLP supplied Energy Usage may be submitted after the June 30, 2025 reporting deadline.

Date published:	August 26, 2024
Last updated:	March 31, 2025