If your building’s energy usage year-over-year is staying constant, or maybe it goes down 1 or 2%, you probably think you’re doing a great job, according to Gregg May, sustainability program coordinator for the city of Madison.
However, if you find out that a comparable building to yours is using 50% less energy, “that’s something you’d really want to know,” he said.
That’s where the city’s Building Energy Savings Program (BESP) comes in. First adopted in March 2023, the program works to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings across the community through benchmarking and tune-ups. With a phased implementation process based on building size, the program has seen impressive participation over the last two years and anticipates more in years to come.
This year, owners of commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet are required to benchmark their energy use. As the June 30 deadline approaches for these medium-sized buildings, the city looks back at the BESP’s progress so far and previews what’s next.
“There were probably about 120 or so buildings in the (program’s) first year,” said May. “We’ve added about another 300-plus to that, so it’s a big jump in the number of buildings, and we’re just helping folks through the program right now. … We’re seeing good participation so far and hoping to get closer to 100% participation as we reach our deadline for the year.”
Meanwhile, the tune-ups side of the program — initially set to start this year for large buildings, or those 100,000 square feet or more in size — has been delayed to 2026. May said the decision will allow both building owners and the city to better prepare for implementation.
Early bird submissions are available to the owners of large buildings who are ready to participate. These parties have until Oct. 30 to complete a tune-up or apply for an alternative compliance pathway demonstrating that they have a high-efficiency building or have recently taken actions toward becoming one. Those who don’t opt in for early bird submission have until Oct. 30, 2026.
The city itself is getting a jump on tune-ups and seeing what May calls “interesting results.”
“We’re doing tune ups for six of our buildings,” he said, “and we have some real leaders in the community who are jumping in and doing some early-bird submissions for their buildings.”
Some of the buildings currently undergoing tune-ups include the Metro Transit Operations building at 1 S. Ingersoll St. and the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
“We’re halfway through that process,” said May. “It’s just interesting with all the ways your building can get away from you — if somebody, for instance, came in on a weekend and turned the temperature up for that one weekend, and then suddenly, every Saturday your building gets up to 72 degrees, or the lights turn on because somebody came in on a Wednesday night.
“I think these are experiences people are having not only here in the city of Madison but in buildings across our community, and they’re telling us these stories. So, we’re really excited to have people participate in the program and get those buildings back in tip-top shape … and see the energy savings folks experience as part of it.”
So far, May said the BESP rollout has seen mainly smooth sailing. While he noted that the first year of each building’s participation is a “heavier lift,” participating building owners have shared positive reactions to the program.
“In the first year of the program … we’ve got to connect people to an Energy Star portfolio manager and get them connected to MyMeter with MGE, so that takes a little bit of time,” he said. “Then, in the future, it should be a much lighter lift. Everything’s already all connected, so it should automatically update with that energy data.
“It’s been exciting to talk to a lot of building managers — we’ve had a lot of enthusiastic phone calls from folks,” he said. “We jump on the phone, and they want to talk through the program and they’re excitedly sharing what has been built into their building. They’re always sharing upgrades that they’ve worked on.”
Over its first two years, the program saw a high compliance rate — 80% or more, in fact — and the 2025 compliance data will be available in a matter of weeks, May said. He added that he anticipates an even bigger participation jump in 2026, when buildings 25,000 square feet and larger are added to the benchmarking process and the largest buildings start tune-ups. In 2027, medium-sized buildings will begin tune-ups as well.
“We’re really excited,” said May. “The Building Energy Savings Program is not a novel program; it’s based off of successful programs in over 50 cities across the country. When they’ve done the tune-ups portions in other places, they’ve seen energy savings up to 10% or 12% per year on average for buildings.
“The program is interesting because it’s really just providing a comparison for folks. … It’s illuminating a benchmark to see how they are doing compared to similar buildings in the community. We think that information will be useful … to building owners.”
May said one of the BESP’s notable participants so far is American Family Insurance.
“Compared to other buildings, they scored really high, and they’re trying to figure out how they can have the most efficient office building in all of Madison,” he said. “So we’re already seeing inspiring work come out of this program.”
“American Family has long committed to improving efficiency in our operations and being responsible stewards of the environment,” said Austin Daugherty, American Family’s senior workplace sustainability specialist. “We are grateful for the leadership of the Building Energy Savings Program for continuing to guide and educate businesses across the city of Madison on managing our energy footprints responsibly.”
The city has a variety of resources in place year-round to support building owners who are looking to follow suit and become or remain BESP-compliant. Beginning in March, Madison held four virtual training sessions, which have since concluded, that May called “very successful.”
“We had great attendance this year and probably will continue to do them in the future,” he said.
He encouraged interested parties to take advantage of the city’s BESP Help Desk with any questions and added that a roughly 14-minute, virtual demo video is available to walk building owners through the benchmarking process.
