Legal Bulletins

As covered in our earlier bulletins, Maryland’s Building Energy Performance Standards (“BEPS”) program, administered by the Maryland Department of the Environment (“MDE”), requires owners of covered buildings - generally those 35,000 square feet or larger - to benchmark energy use and, over time, reduce on-site greenhouse gas emissions and meet forthcoming energy use intensity (“EUI”) standards.

Annual Reporting Obligation – Due June 30, 2026

MDE has confirmed that, for this reporting cycle, the BEPS Portal is ready to accept payment of this year’s annual reporting fee of $100 per building. Building owners must pay the annual fee and submit a third-party verified benchmarking report by June 30, 2026 to be considered timely.  Payments must be made using your Unique Building ID (“UBID”). Confirm that your UBID represents your building by using the recommendations in Using the BEPS Portal (PDF), starting on page 4. MDE is also now offering office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10AM - 11AM until July 2. Office hours and other BEPS public meetings can be accessed via the BEPS public calendar.  
A reminder that failure to submit, or submission of inaccurate data, violates the regulations and may subject a building owner to significant penalties. Also, building owners should not rely on MDE notices to determine coverage - the obligation to assess applicability rests with the building owner. The 2026 building statuses have been updated in the BEPS Portal. Accordingly, a “No Submission” status is displayed when neither a benchmarking report nor exemption request has been received for that building's 2026 requirements.

Available Exemptions

The regulations prescribe several categorical exemptions, including:

• Restaurants, parking structures, K-12 schools, agricultural buildings, and buildings on historic registries; 
• Manufacturing buildings (under a broadened statutory definition); 
• Hospitals and certain life science buildings; and
• Buildings containing SCIFs used by national defense agencies or contractors.

How Gordon Feinblatt can Help

Gordon Feinblatt continues to closely track BEPS, including MDE’s ongoing program study due to the General Assembly by December 1, 2026. If you are evaluating coverage or believe your building may benefit from a potential exemption, we would be glad to assist.

Roberta "Bobbie" R. James
410-576-4170 • rjames@gfrlaw.com

Maxwell T. Cooke
410-576-4141 • mcooke@gfrlaw.com