City Of Chicago Failed to Collect $30 Million In Potential Fines from Building Benchmarking Ordinance
Not Enforcing The Benchmarking Ordinance's Fines From 2018 - 2022 Reduced Accountability & Transparency
Published
Electrify Chicago has analyzed the last five years of city benchmark
data, and found 3,325 instances of building owners not submitting data.
Based on the
latest (2024) official notification letter 
fines for non-compliance could total up to $9,200 per year.
A screenshot of the energy benchmarking notification letter's
section on fines, as of Feb. 2024 (source )
With a maximum of $9,200 of fines multiplied by 3,325 instances of
non-compliance (source - City of Chicago data portal ), that means a whopping
$30,590,000 dollars of fines could have been collected
by the city's commissioner of business affairs and consumer
protection (who is given this responsibility in the
original ordinance).
The full data portal screenshot, and a zoomed in view of the query
result count (source )
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted to the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protections, which is charged with enforcing the benchmarking ordinance, returned no recorded instances of the ordinance being enforced.
Why This Matters
Without consequences for non-reporting, building owners who perform
poorly can simply opt out of reporting their data. Some owners of very
large and culturally significant buildings have consistently not
submitted. As an example, view
2023's largest non reporting buildings in the data portal
. Not having all building owners report means the goals of the
ordinance aren't being met, and the public loses out on valuable
information for buildings that could be emitting the most or be the
least efficient. The city may also believe that it is on track with its
climate goals, when there are still large buildings that are emitting
but have their emissions not reported or not reported accurately, like
if a building reports their electricity use but not their fossil gas
use.
To put this $30 million in potential fines into context, zin the 2024
budget, $25.3 million was suggested to be put towards lead line
replacement, meaning these potential fines could have fully funded that
program in 2024 (source - City of Chicago 2024 Budget Overview ).
Next Steps
An older version of the energy benchmarking notification (source - WayBackMachine ) did not contain any information about potential fines, and merely by
updating the notification letter to make sure that building owners are
aware of the consequences for not reporting, the reporting rate is
likely to improve. However, we believe it is crucial the city then
follow through and fine any owners who choose to ignore repeated
requests to report their energy use, in keeping with the original
ordinance. We also believe that larger fines may be necessary to get the
owners of very large and inefficient buildings to report their
emissions, rather than to obscure their pollution from the public.
Additionally, we recommend the city consider adding more granular data requirements to the data portal to help building emissions data be more clear and helpful. This includes ensuring that all electric buildings are clearly reported, distinct from buildings that reported electric but not gas use, and considering requesting information about a building's HVAC system, since that can be the driving factor in a buildings emissions profile, and a building that uses gas only for cooking should be identifiable from a building using gas for heating and cooling as well.
Questions?
Contact the lead developer on this site, Viktor Köves, by emailing contact@viktorkoves.com