HONG EXAMINER – September 2026
Monthly Newsletter of Hong Consulting, LLC.
Deadline Extension. The benchmarking report extension deadline for the 1/1/25 – 12/31/25 period ends 8/31/26. If you requested and received an exemption, it is important to submit the benchmarking report by the end of August to remain in compliance with the Better Buildings Benchmarking Ordinance (Ordinance 22-17). If you need help filing the benchmarking report for your building, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
PV Systems. There is now a greater focus by the City & County of Honolulu (C&C) on getting buildings to report on their PV electricity usage. PV systems can be a huge source of energy usage and failing to record their usage can skew a building’s energy metrics (i.e. underreport your energy usage). If you do have a PV system, you will need to make a good faith effort to report the PV energy used onsite and the PV energy exported back to the grid.
Just entering the PV generation data from your PV system can skew your building’s energy metrics as well. A lot of buildings don’t realize that they aren’t using all the electricity the PV system is generating. If you are exporting energy back to the grid but fail to report it in your benchmarking report, it will make it look like your property is using more energy than it actually is. You can check if you are exporting PV electricity back to the grid by reviewing your HECO bills.
Tips & Tricks. For those buildings that are self-filing, the following is a list of tips and tricks for complying with the ordinance based on my experience assisting properties in submitting their benchmarking reports:
Use the following website to create a document with a list of the data you need to collect in order to file: https://portfoliomanager.energystar.gov/pm/dataCollectionWorksheet. The website also has links to definitions of important terms such as “gross floor area.” Condominium associations should select multifamily housing as their property type. Please note water usage is required to be reported in addition to energy usage.
Do not have any gaps in your monthly electricity, water, or gas usage. EnergyStar Portfolio Manager, the system the C&C uses to collect the data and issue the reports, does not allow for any gaps in usage. If you can’t find one of your monthly utility bills, then your building will have to request the usage from the utilities themselves.
Your electricity, water, and gas usage must cover from January 1st to December 31st. If your utility bills start after the beginning of the year or cuts off before the end of the year, then you will need the previous month’s bill or next month's bill to get all the required usage. EnergyStar Portfolio Manager will spit out an error if the usage for a particular meter does not cover every day of the calendar year being reported on. It is okay if the previous month’s bill or the next month's bill covers periods outside of the calendar year as long as every day in the calendar year is covered.
The benchmarking report covers the whole property, including tenants. If you have tenants such as gyms, restaurants, and salons on your property, you must include their usage in the benchmarking report in addition to your own. You will also need to allocate the gross floor area of your property to the different property types that exist on your property (ex. multifamily housing and restaurant/bar).
Gross floor area of your building can usually be found in the condo association documents, blueprints, or insurance documents. If you cannot find the gross floor area in your documents, you can ask your insurance agent. They should have your square footage as that is how they calculate your premiums.
For more information about Ordinance 22-17, please click on the following link: https://www.resilientoahu.org/benchmarking. It will take you to C&C’s website about the ordinance and its benchmarking program. Hong Consulting has also created a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page on the ordinance. The following link will take you to it: https://www.hongconsultingllc.com/faqs-better-buildings-benchmarking.
