The central government has proposed an amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, to make energy performance rating compulsory for residential and commercial buildings with a built-up area of 20,000 square meters or more, according to an official notification by the ministry of power.The proposed amendment requires the new buildings whose construction starts after the date of publication of the notification to acquire a star rating, ranging between 3-star and 5-star, from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) or any other rating agencies registered with it.What is the procedure for obtaining the rating? The amendment also proposes a procedure for the owner or occupant of the building to obtain a BEE Star Rating:
- Register on the web portal of the Bureau of
Energy Efficiency by paying the prescribed fee - Submit the compliance documents along with a Certificate of Compliance issued by a Certified Energy Auditor (Building) or empanelled Third-Party Assessor.
- Based on this, the Bureau shall issue a provisional Star Rating Certificate for the building
- For issuance of the final Star Rating Certificate, the owner or occupier shall submit the required compliance documents, and the rating will be issued within 30 days of receipt.
As per the notification, the built-up area is the sum of the covered areas of all floors of a building, excluding the roof. It also included the areas covered by external walls and parapets on these floors.The notification states that the proposed mandatory star rating framework offers a transparent, standardised, and performance-based rating mechanism to mainstream energy efficiency in the building sector.
