(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date ) Sec. 5-5. Findings.
(a)The General Assembly finds and declares that optimizing energy use through whole-building utility data access is in the public interest because it provides consumers, building owners, utilities, and states with significant economic benefits.
(b)The General Assembly further finds the following:
(1)implementing building energy use data access legislation catalyzes the development of a strong market for building energy services which will positively impact the State's economy through significant job growth;
(2)improving the energy use efficiency of the existing building stock is a key strategy to help preserve the affordability of rental housing;
(3)energy use reductions stemming from
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(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date ) Sec. 5-5. Findings. (a) The General Assembly finds and declares that optimizing energy use through whole-building utility data access is in the public interest because it provides consumers, building owners, utilities, and states with significant economic benefits. (b) The General Assembly further finds the following: (1) implementing building energy use data access legislation catalyzes the development of a strong market for building energy services which will positively impact the State's economy through significant job growth; (2) improving the energy use efficiency of the existing building stock is a key strategy to help preserve the affordability of rental housing; (3) energy use reductions stemming from data access can result in direct cost savings to customers and in peak load reductions that benefit all ratepayers; (4) data access programs allow utilities to maximize the value of their energy use efficiency portfolio by engaging customers and directing them to energy efficiency programs and by enabling utilities to target low-performing buildings; (5) implementing building data access enables building owners in the State to qualify for certain federal and other incentives to help them improve their assets; (6) energy use data access is the foundation of a successful efficiency strategy and enables building owners to track energy use performance over time, set performance goals, and justify cost-effective energy use upgrades; and (7) absent whole-building energy use data access legislation, building owners lack an efficient, defined process to obtain energy performance of their buildings in a manner that protects consumer confidentiality.