Key takeaways
- ENERGY STAR requires 12 consecutive months of complete energy data — no gaps, no overlaps, whole-building coverage.
- A single missing month, a billing-period overlap, or excluded tenant-metered space disqualifies the asset from receiving a score.
- Portfolio Manager won't tell you why a score can't be calculated — it just returns an error after you've entered everything.
- EDRA's B1 (completeness) and B3 (continuity) components gate for the same requirements — pointing to the exact meters, months, and billing periods at fault.
ENERGY STAR is deceptively strict about data. The scoring algorithm requires 12 consecutive months of complete energy data — no gaps, no overlaps, and coverage that represents the whole building. Many portfolios assume they meet this standard. The assumption holds until they check. A missing month of gas data, a billing period gap in the electricity records, or tenant-metered space excluded from the submission — any of these disqualifies the asset from receiving an ENERGY STAR score.
The system tells you nothing until after you submit
The challenge is that ENERGY STAR doesn't tell you why your score can't be calculated until after you've entered all the data into Portfolio Manager. The system simply returns an error or no score at all. There's no diagnostic output explaining that the March gas bill is missing, or that the electricity billing periods have a 4-day overlap in Q2. The asset manager sees "score not available" and starts a manual investigation that can take weeks.
EDRA's gating mechanism mirrors ENERGY STAR's actual requirements. The B1 component (completeness) checks whether 12 full months of data exist for every utility type at every meter. The B3 component (continuity) checks whether billing periods connect without gaps or overlaps. If your data doesn't pass B1 and B3, your ENERGY STAR score cannot be calculated — and EDRA tells you exactly which meters, which months, and which billing periods are the problem.
The practical value is speed. Instead of entering data into Portfolio Manager, waiting for a failed score, investigating manually, fixing the data, re-entering, and trying again — the fund manager runs an EDRA scan first. In 48 hours, every asset is classified: eligible for ENERGY STAR scoring, or not eligible with specific reason codes. The assets that pass can proceed immediately. The assets that don't get a remediation plan with specific data gaps to close.
One gate for both certifications
For portfolios pursuing both GRESB and ENERGY STAR — which is most institutional real estate portfolios — EDRA provides a single data readiness assessment that gates for both certifications simultaneously. The data requirements overlap significantly. An asset that passes EDRA's B1 and B3 thresholds is ready for ENERGY STAR scoring and has cleared the data quality bar for GRESB submission.
A US office portfolio of 18 assets believed all were ENERGY STAR eligible. EDRA scoring showed only 11 had the required 12 months of continuous data. The other 7 had gaps ranging from 2 to 5 months — concentrated in gas meters where billing had been irregular. Targeted utility outreach closed all gaps in 6 weeks.
Download Case Study (PDF)Frequently asked questions
How many months of data does ENERGY STAR require?
ENERGY STAR requires 12 consecutive months of complete energy data for every utility type at every meter — with no gaps, no overlaps, and coverage that represents the whole building. A single missing month of gas data, a billing-period gap in the electricity records, or tenant-metered space excluded from the submission will disqualify the asset from receiving an ENERGY STAR score.
What is decision-grade data?
Decision-grade data is data that has been verified as complete and continuous before it is used to compute a score. For ENERGY STAR, that means 12 full months exist for every utility type at every meter, and the billing periods connect without gaps or overlaps. EDRA's B1 (completeness) and B3 (continuity) components check exactly this — so you know an asset qualifies before you enter anything into Portfolio Manager.
Why do gaps or overlaps disqualify data?
ENERGY STAR's algorithm needs 12 consecutive, non-overlapping months to compute a reliable performance figure. A gap means part of the year is unaccounted for; an overlap means some consumption is double-counted. Either breaks the continuity the algorithm depends on, so it returns an error or no score at all — without telling you which meter, month, or billing period caused it.
How does EDRA speed up ENERGY STAR readiness?
Instead of entering data into Portfolio Manager, waiting for a failed score, investigating manually, fixing, and re-entering, the fund manager runs an EDRA scan first. In 48 hours every asset is classified — eligible for ENERGY STAR scoring, or not eligible with specific reason codes pointing to the exact meters, months, and billing periods that are the problem.