West Whiteland weighs energy reporting and data sharing

West Whiteland's Public Services Commission is scheduled to review a building energy reporting proposal at its November 4 meeting, with software setup and data privacy among the issues for property owners.

The draft ordinance circulated in August names the Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager as the reporting tool, while allowing the township to adopt alternatives. Owners would submit energy consumption and building characteristics so performance could be compared with similar properties.

Which buildings are under discussion

The November presentation describes commercial and institutional properties of at least 25,000 square feet, multifamily properties of that size with at least five dwellings, and municipal or county properties over 5,000 square feet. It also describes exemptions.

There is a boundary detail to resolve: the August draft says private properties must exceed 25,000 square feet. An owner at that exact size should confirm the final language rather than rely on the presentation alone.

Automated uploads still need an owner check

EPA's benchmarking starter guide explains that automated data submission depends on the utility or service provider. Its utility data guidance describes two routes: consumption totals sent directly into Portfolio Manager through software connections, or spreadsheet files that owners enter themselves.

Those totals can combine consumption across tenants in a building. The connection can reduce repeated entry of utility bills; it does not establish that every account has an automatic feed.

The township draft's data provisions would require owners to run the tool's data checks and correct missing or inaccurate information. Utility uploads would not remove the responsibility to report building characteristics. The draft also says utilities would not be required to offer electronic reporting.

For a property manager, the useful preparation is to identify who maintains building information, which meters supply the property and who can correct the record when something changes.

Account access and public reporting are separate

The November slides describe annual public information including building type, size and performance score. Staff identify targeted outreach and utility planning among the intended uses.

The August draft also lists potential public outputs such as energy use intensity, greenhouse gas emissions and compliance status. Owners should ask which fields would appear in the final public report.

Inside the software, EPA's access definitions distinguish permission to view information from permission to edit it. A separate sharing permission controls whether a recipient may pass access to someone else. Those account settings are a different question from what a local reporting ordinance would publish.

What happens next

The August 5 minutes say commission members wanted business survey results before taking action. The November presentation reports only two survey responses, so those answers should not be treated as a measure of all local business opinion.

The November 4 agenda lists the outreach results for the 6:30 p.m. meeting and provides Zoom access. This is a proposal review, not evidence that owners already face a new reporting deadline.

For another township technology project, see our Route 100 signal detection report. More local reporting is in our Chester County coverage.

Image credit: Illustrative stock photograph by Mindaugas U on Pexels, used under the Pexels License. The photograph does not depict a West Whiteland property or identify a building covered by the proposal.