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Committee delays first compliance deadline for city's energy benchmarking ordinance to Sept. 30, 2025, citing help-desk funding uncertainty
Summary
The committee approved a substitute ordinance pushing the initial energy-benchmarking compliance date from June 30 to September 30, 2025, and moved the city's public summary deadline to Dec. 31, 2025. ECO staff said federal grant funding intended to support a help desk has been delayed and the substitute scales internal deadlines accordingly.
The committee approved a substitute ordinance that moves the initial compliance deadline for the City of Milwaukee's energy benchmarking law from June 30, 2025 to September 30, 2025 and postpones the city's public summary and reporting milestone from September 30 to December 31, 2025.
Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO) staff said the ordinance (adopted by the council last year) requires building owners to report energy use through EPA's Energy Star Portfolio Manager. ECO's plan called for a help-desk consultant to assist building owners with account creation and utility-data transfer. Staff said federal grant funding intended to secure a robust external help desk has been announced but not yet awarded, delaying procurement and prompting the proposed timeline change.
ECO said approximately 269 government buildings (city and MPS properties 10,000 sq ft and larger) and roughly 526 commercial properties (50,000 sq ft and larger) would be covered in the first phase. Staff said they can implement a more limited help-desk from existing city funds to provide basic assistance, but that a robust federally supported help desk would provide broader outreach, more training, and greater direct support for building owners.
Committee members supported the substitute as a pragmatic step to allow staff time to stand up assistance resources before the initial compliance deadline. The substitute was moved by Alderman Jocasta Samaripa and carried without objection.
