In 2009 New York City enacted Local Law 87 (LL87), which is part of the plaNYC ‘Greener, Greater Buildings Plan’. LL87 requires building owners to perform an ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit and Retro-commissioning on the base building systems. The owners then have to submit an Energy Efficiency Report every ten years documenting the processes, with the deadline being determined by the last digit of a building’s block number. Penalties for non-compliance are substantial and will range anywhere from $3000 – $5000, for every year of non-compliance.

Building owners have an option for early compliance in 2013, and there are several reasons complying early is beneficial. If a building complies early, the first due date can be skipped for another 10 years. The LL84/09 benchmark score can also be raised prior to public disclosure in 2012 for commercial buildings and 2013 for multifamily buildings. Early compliance also means being able to use a simpler process before the NYC Depart of Buildings (NYC DOB) issues rules. NYC’s DOB will be processing over 1,700 buildings per year, so one of the main reasons for early compliance is to ensure the Energy Efficiency Report is finished before increased demand strains the availability of qualified companies who can perform the work. Early compliance of Local Law 87 (LL87) is allowed only once, from January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013.

Since the law was first unveiled, there have been some updates, some of which occurred on March 23^rd, 2012. Any buildings that already had an audit or retro-commissioning completed prior to the issuance of the final rule, but is still in accordance with the law, will be deemed in compliance. To keep updated, or to learn more, visit https://www.controltechinc.com/energy/law87.php today.