Colorado's building performance standard arrived in two pieces. The Air Quality Control Commission adopted Regulation 28 in August 2023 with annual compliance beginning in 2026, and the 2025 legislature passed HB25-1269, which let owners report progress instead of complying in 2026, added a 2019 baseline option, created a fee-funded decarbonization enterprise, and left the 2030 standard and its penalties in place.
For an owner of a 50,000-square-foot-plus building in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins or anywhere else in the state, the practical question is which pathway reaches the 2030 target at the lowest capital cost. For multifamily and lodging, the answer usually starts in the water heating room. Regulation 28 offers four routes: a Table 1 site EUI target, a 13 percent 2026 or 29 percent 2030 reduction in site EUI from the 2021 baseline, a Table 1 greenhouse gas intensity target, or the same percentage reduction in GHG intensity.
Key Takeaways
The Table 1 targets for multifamily housing are 50.6 kBtu per square foot for 2026-2029 and 42.1 for 2030-2050, with GHG intensity targets of 3.1 and 1.9 kg CO2e per square foot. Benchmarking reports are due November 1 each year.
Under HB25-1269, performance penalties begin January 1, 2030, at up to $2,300 per 30 days for a first violation and $5,800 for subsequent violations, inflation-adjusted. In a multifamily building where water heating is about 30 percent of site energy, replacing a gas plant with a heat pump water heater at a COP of 2.5 reduces site EUI by about 20 percent on labeled assumptions, more than the 2026 standard reduction by itself.
In this article
Who is covered and what they owe each year
Part A of Regulation 28 defines a covered building as one "comprising a gross floor area of fifty thousand (50,000) square feet or more," occupied by one or several tenants. It excludes storage facilities, stand-alone parking garages and airplane hangars without heating and cooling, buildings where more than half the floor area serves manufacturing, industrial or agricultural purposes, and single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes.
Public buildings are subject to the performance standards only after a construction or renovation project of at least $500,000 affecting at least 25 percent of the building's area. The regulation was adopted August 17, 2023, published September 25, 2023, and took effect October 15, 2023.
Every covered building benchmarks annually in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The Colorado Energy Office's program page states that the reporting period opens July 1 and the benchmarking report and fee are due November 1.
HB25-1269 codified the November 1 date beginning with 2025 data reported in 2026, allowed a building operator to file when the owner lacks access to the data, and set the Building Decarbonization Enterprise fee at $400 per year, first due November 1, 2025, with public buildings exempt. The Enterprise funds audits, rebates, financing and technical assistance for fee-paying owners; its initial offerings were approved with details still being finalized as of the Energy Office's page.
The four pathways and the Table 1 numbers
Part C, Section I sets annual compliance from 2026, with the 2026 standard applying through 2029 and the 2030 standard from 2030 through 2050. The Part C, Section I requirements provide four pathways:
The GHG pathway is where electrification registers most directly, because the state sets the grid emissions factor inside the Portfolio Manager Building Emissions Calculator. The site EUI pathway rewards it differently: a heat pump delivers two to three units of heat per unit of site energy, so replacing a gas plant lowers site EUI by the efficiency gain, not by the fuel switch. Both effects are worked below.
Adjustments under Part C, Section II
Part C, Section II provides a timeline adjustment for categories including affordable and under-resourced buildings, major renovations, supply chain delays and electrical infrastructure upgrades. A timeline adjustment requires a natural gas equipment inventory and an energy audit.
The section also provides a blended target for mixed-use buildings, an under-resourced building target, and an other-pathway adjustment. Requests are due January 31, 2027 for the 2026 target and January 31, 2031 for the 2030 target.
Electrical infrastructure is the adjustment category an electrification plan can encounter. A documented service constraint can support an adjustment, while sizing the heat pump plant with storage can avoid the upgrade rather than schedule it.
What HB25-1269 changed and what it left alone
The enrolled bill amends 25-7-142 and 25-7-122 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. The enrolled text of HB25-1269 provides the following changes:
Published Regulation 28 penalty amounts
The published version of Regulation 28 lists Part E penalties of up to $500 and $2,000 for benchmarking violations and up to $2,000 and $5,000 for performance standard violations, with each month of noncompliance an independent violation.
The statute's inflation-adjusted figures supersede those amounts, and the Commission's conforming rulemaking is the document to check on publish day. Re-verify whether the Commission has conformed Regulation 28 to HB25-1269 and whether any Table 1 value changed before quoting a target.
The Energy Office page adds that the Air Pollution Control Division has begun enforcing benchmarking compliance. The practical reading is that 2026 is a reporting year with a target attached, 2030 is the target capital plans are built around, and the 2019 baseline election is due by November 1, 2027 for any building whose 2021 consumption was depressed.
Where hot water sits in a Colorado multifamily building
The EIA's 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey reports that apartments in buildings with five or more units used 10.1 million Btu per household per year for water heating, 29.9 percent of 33.7 million Btu of total site energy, on a national average basis.
Colorado's heating climate pushes the space heating share up and the water heating share down relative to that average, but the water heating load itself does not shrink with the climate. In a central-plant building, it is the one end use the owner controls without entering apartments.
The worked example below uses labeled assumptions throughout. It does not state that any building complies.
Why storage decides whether the heat pump gets built
The site EUI arithmetic does not involve the tank. The project does, for four reasons.
A Colorado compliance sequence for a hot water measure
Use the following sequence before quoting a target or fixing the design:
Frequently Asked Questions
Which buildings are covered by Colorado's building performance standards?
Buildings of 50,000 square feet of gross floor area or more under 5 CCR 1001-32 Part A, excluding unconditioned storage, parking and hangars, buildings more than half manufacturing, industrial or agricultural, and single-family through triplex homes. Public buildings become subject to the performance standards after a qualifying renovation.
What are the 2026 and 2030 targets?
A building can use the Table 1 site EUI or GHG intensity target for its property type, or a 13 percent 2026 and 29 percent 2030 reduction in site EUI or GHG intensity from the 2021 baseline, or from 2019 under HB25-1269. For multifamily housing, Table 1 gives 50.6 then 42.1 kBtu per square foot and 3.1 then 1.9 kg CO2e per square foot.
What did HB25-1269 change?
Owners may comply with the 2026 standard or report progress; no added obligations apply for missing the 2030 standard until 2031; 2019 can serve as the baseline if the data are submitted by November 1, 2027; performance penalties start January 1, 2030 at up to $2,300 per 30 days for a first violation and $5,800 for subsequent ones, inflation-adjusted; and a $400 annual Enterprise fee applies, first due November 1, 2025.
When are Colorado benchmarking reports due?
November 1 each year, with the reporting period opening July 1, according to the Colorado Energy Office and HB25-1269.
Does Energize Denver compliance satisfy the state standard?
The Colorado Energy Office states that Denver buildings complying with Energize Denver's requirements are deemed compliant with the state performance targets. Owners must still report to both the city and the state and pay the state fee.
How much can hot water electrification reduce a multifamily building's EUI?
On labeled assumptions, a 70 kBtu per square foot building with water heating at the EIA share of 29.9 percent, an 80 percent boiler and a heat pump at COP 2.5 sees a reduction of about 14.2 kBtu per square foot, or 20.3 percent. That exceeds the 13 percent 2026 standard reduction. The building's own data replace every input.
Is there an adjustment for electrical service upgrades?
Part C, Section II.A lists electrical infrastructure upgrades among the timeline adjustment categories, with a natural gas equipment inventory and an energy audit required. Sizing the heat pump plant to the daily load with thermal storage is the design route that avoids needing the adjustment.
The bottom line
Colorado's 2026 standard became a reporting year with HB25-1269, and the 2030 standard became the one that carries penalties of up to $5,800 per 30 days from January 1, 2030.
For a multifamily building, the path to a 29 percent site EUI reduction or a 42.1 kBtu per square foot target runs through the largest end use the owner controls. On the EIA share and a COP of 2.5, the hot water plant delivers about 20 percent by itself.
The heat pump earns the reduction. Storage keeps the plant small enough to fit the service, cheap enough to run off-peak and large enough to carry a Colorado winter morning. Benchmark by November 1, elect the baseline by November 1, 2027, and re-verify the targets against the Commission's current rule before any number goes into a capital plan.
