Energy efficiency benchmarking

1. Create an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account.

This should be a person responsible for energy management and benchmarking in your organization.  

Don't enter any personal information.

2. Add property information.  

You'll need to enter basic property details such as type, square footage, how it's used, etc. 

3. Add meter information.

Each electric meter will represent one BC Hydro account – unless using a MURB and/or COM code, which will represent, separately, all the residential and commercial accounts in the building (see Part C).  

Give each meter a descriptive name that includes the BC Hydro account number – or notes if it’s an aggregated meter (see Part C). 

1. Within Portfolio Manager, use the "Contact" feature to add BC Hydro Web Services.

Once submitted, the connection with BC Hydro should take about four hours. You'll receive an email update once complete.

• Select “share properties with others”. 
• Select “Personalized sharing and exchange data”. 
• Give full access to each meter. 
• For individual meters, validate with required details (account number, bill date, bill amount). 
• For additional guidance on common area accounts, see the step-by-step guide and video tutorials.

If you're on consolidated billing, in addition to entering your member account number, enter your most recent master invoice date and master invoice amount (total amount due with dollars and cents), as it appears on your bill. The system will accept either of the previous two bills.

3. Check back the next business day.  

If the request was accepted, up to three years of your past electricity use data will be available and will be automatically updated each month.

 
If there are overlaps, delete duplicate records. 

If meter readings are longer than 65 days, manually split them. 

1. Complete the request for aggregated consumption data to obtain a MURB code (for multi-unit residential buildings) or COM code (for commercial buildings).

For mixed-use buildings, you can obtain MURB and COM codes by submitting two requests: one for commercial accounts and one for residential accounts. 

2. While completing your request, you'll be asked to upload the required authorization forms:  

• If a consultant or representative is requesting the data on behalf of the building owner.
• If the number of accounts for the building falls below the eligibility threshold, it must also be completed by each individual account holder.

The eligibility threshold and the building data authorization form for this service are available on the request page.

3. Add the codes to Portfolio Manager for aggregated data upload. 

• Add a COM code for aggregated commercial consumption, and/or 
  
• Add a MURB code for aggregated residential consumption. 
  

If required, also add the residential common area meter to validate your MURB code.

 
One meter in Portfolio Manager will represent aggregated consumption for each account type being requested for this building. Label these clearly (e.g., "Aggregated meter – commercial", "Aggregated meter – residential"). 

For MURBs that have a common area account, the common area account is usually set up as a commercial meter and is not included in the residential aggregation. The requestor must know the common area account number to complete this process.  

For mixed-use buildings, if a common area account from the residential portion is entered in Portfolio Manager, note that it will also be picked up in the commercial portion. To get the true whole-building consumption, remove the duplicate from the building total in Portfolio Manager.