Skip to content
Honeydew Energy Advisors
Region
Jurisdiction
Services
Home / Regions / Montgomery County / Benchmarking
Energy benchmarking in Montgomery County

Montgomery County benchmarking, filed with the county and not the state.

Since HB49 took effect in October 2025, county buildings are exempt from the Maryland state program and report to Montgomery County DEP only. If you have been filing both, that needs cleaning up.

No obligation. We will tell you if you do not need us.
What the county requires
Filed with Montgomery County DEP Not MDE. County buildings are exempt from the state program.
What you report Whole-building energy Annual reporting through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, phased in by building size.
Thresholds Phased by size Larger buildings came in first, smaller ones follow. We confirm your phase before filing.
Legacy dual filing Needs cleanup Buildings filed to both the county and the state historically should be reconciled.

Dates and thresholds change. We confirm the current requirement for your specific building before anyone acts on it.

The county program, and the carve-out that confuses everyone.

Montgomery County ran its own benchmarking law alongside the Maryland state program for years, which meant some buildings genuinely filed twice. HB49 ended that. Since October 1, 2025 county buildings are exempt from the state program and file with county DEP only.

That single change is behind a large share of the confusion we get called about. Owners who set up a filing routine before late 2025 are often still submitting to MDE, or worse, submitting to neither because they assumed the other filing covered it.

The reporting mechanics are familiar. Whole-building energy use, reported annually through Portfolio Manager, with the county publishing results. The work that matters is the same as everywhere: correct square footage, complete meters, and a property structure that holds up next year.

Montgomery County specifics
County only, since HB49
Filing to the state instead of the county is not compliance, and it is a common error.
Check the county line
Takoma Park straddles Montgomery and Prince George’s. The line decides which program applies.
Green Bank programs
Montgomery County Green Bank work runs alongside compliance here, and we coordinate it.
The services behind this page

How we get you compliant

Confirm the jurisdiction first. In this county that is not a formality.

1
Confirm county and phase
Which side of the county line, which size phase, and what has actually been filed historically.
2
Clean up legacy filings
Buildings that were dual filed or filed to the wrong body get reconciled before anything new goes in.
3
Utility data access
Authorizations and aggregate data connections, one house account per utility per property.
4
File with county DEP
Submitted, confirmed, documented.
5
Coordinate the extras
GFA verification and Green Bank program work where they apply.
County enforcement

A count-based ladder, not a daily meter running against you.

County enforcement escalates by count rather than by day. A citation can be followed by an Order of Abatement, and subsequent citations carry higher amounts. Prospects increasingly arrive holding a court order rather than a first notice, which is a different and more urgent situation.

We do not quote you a running total, because the county has discretion in how it assesses and a made-up number does not help you. If you are holding a notice, an order, or anything from county DEP, send us the document itself and we will work out where in the ladder you actually are.

Received a letter?

What a county DEP document usually means.

Which document you are holding decides everything, so read the heading first.

Send us the letter
Citation
A first enforcement step under the county code. It is curable, and curing it is the whole job.
Order of Abatement or court order
A mandatory instruction to cure, not a bill. Buildings now arrive at us holding these, and the sequence is fixed: cure the filing first, then engage on the enforcement.

Send us the letter itself, not a summary. We read it for the six things that decide the response: who sent it, which building and identifier it names, what period it covers, what it says you failed to do, the cure date, and whether it is a first notice or an escalation. We never quote a running penalty total, and we cure first, then talk to the regulator.

Why MoCo owners call us

We work both sides of the county line every cycle and we track the county DEP enforcement page rather than guessing.

Actually local
We are based in the DMV and sit in the stakeholder meetings where these rules get written, not on a national help desk.
Built for boards
Most of our clients are condo and co-op boards and the managers who serve them. We present in plain English, on your meeting schedule.
Credentialed
Certified Energy Manager on staff, Portfolio Manager specialists, and the credentials the verification work requires.
One accountable partner
We are not engineers and we do not pretend to be. We manage the process, coordinate the right vendors, and own the outcome.
Managers and owners we work with
FirstService Residential Legum & Norman EJF Real Estate Services Comsource Management Barkan Management Howard University Regency Centers Montgomery County Green Bank

Montgomery County benchmarking questions

The county, since HB49 took effect on October 1, 2025. Montgomery County buildings are exempt from the Maryland state program. If you filed with MDE recently, that filing did not satisfy the county obligation.

It is worth cleaning up. Dual filing creates conflicting records, and conflicting records are what turn a simple question from an inspector into a long one.

Send us the actual document. Where you are in the escalation ladder determines the response, and orders are handled differently from first notices. The general principle is cure first, then discuss.

Thresholds phase in by building size, so the answer depends on your square footage and the current phase schedule. We confirm it against the county list rather than estimating.

Keep reading

The pages that usually matter next for a Montgomery County building.

County standard BEPS in Montgomery County The performance standard, the pathways, and what the exposure really is. County cycle Verification in Montgomery County Third-party data verification and the square footage work that moves every number. Everything we do here Full services in Montgomery County Everything Honeydew manages here, compliance and energy services together.
What is BEPS? All Honeydew services Every region we serve Latest rule changes on the blog

Send us the address and any county letter.

We will confirm which program applies, where you stand, and what closing it out involves.

202-670-9625 Send us the address
Start with the building

Tell us what is on your plate. We will help you sort it out.

A notice, a deadline, a portfolio, or simply a question. You do not need to have it organized before you call.

202-670-9625
Monday to Friday, and yes, a person answers.

Thank you. It is on its way.

Your request has been saved. An advisor will reply, usually the same business day.

Send us the details

Everything here is optional except a way to reach you.

Goes to [email protected]. We do not share your information or sell it to vendors.

Privacy choices

Choose which optional tools may run. Contact forms and our standard phone number remain available.

Privacy details