Energy Impact Offset Fund

After you’ve submitted your license application to the City’s Licensing Team, you are required to make an Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) account.

• Steps:
  • Go to www.energystar.gov/buildings, click “Create account,” and provide the required information.
  • In the “Do you want your Account Name (and username) to be searchable by other Portfolio Manager users?” select “yes”.
  • In the “Primary Business of your Organization” select “Other” and type in “Agriculture”.
  • Select “conventional units” when completing the sign-up.
  • You do not need to “add a property” after you create your account. The property will be transferred to you (if a previous cultivator was utilizing the same cultivation address as you).
  • Keep a record of your username and password.

The city has a list of approved options to comply with this ordinance. Complete this electricity offset selection form, confirming how you will comply. It will be submitted to the EIOF staff.

Medical and recreational cannabis cultivation facilities are required to track the monthly electricity use in kilowatt-hours (kWhs). This information is retrieved from the utility billing statements (Xcel Energy monthly bills) or from the property management company’s monthly Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges.

To transfer properties:

1. Log into the Property Data Administrator's (PDA/owner) account (only the PDA can transfer)
2. Make sure you are "connected" to the user that you want to transfer to.
3. On the My Portfolio tab, on the bottom-left, click "Transfer ownership"
   
4. Select the Properties that you want to transfer
5. Select the Person/Account you want to Transfer to. (You must be "connected" to the user to transfer.)
6. Click "Transfer Property."
7. You'll get a notification that says you have chosen to transfer a property, and if the other person accepts you will no longer have access to this property. Click "Continue" to proceed.
8. The person you are transferring to will get a notification that you are transferring a property to them. They can accept or reject the transfer. If they accept the property will be removed from your account and put into the new account

Note: When you transfer a property to another user, it will not affect all of the people who have access to that property. They will all still have the same access. 

The city requires all licensed cultivation facilities to maintain an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM) account, which is where the monthly kWhs are tracked. ESPM is a free online database supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This database tool was developed for commercial property owners and businesses that want to track their resource use, such as energy and water, renewable energy, waste reduction, etc.

The new business will register and set up a new ESPM account under the new name and contacts. Then the current owner, once fully compliant with all offset obligations paid to date, will transfer the facility’s historical energy use into the new owner’s ESPM account. Please see specific instructions on how to transfer an existing ESPM account to the new business taking over the cultivation facility.

Submittal of the form informs CID staff that you are a new owner on record, and you’ve selected how you will be compliant with the offset requirement. Due to the supply and demand of other offsets, the city’s Energy Impact Offset Fund (EIOF) is the easiest option. Whether you are paying into the city’s EIOF or are subscribed to another offset program, you are responsible for data entry of monthly kWh use in ESPM. This monthly kWh use is how the city calculates your offset fee on a bi-annual basis.

The offset fee obligation is calculated in arrears. A facility must use the electricity, track it, input it into ESPM monthly, and then the city will access that information from the database and calculate the fee twice per year. The CID issues offset invoices in January each year for the previous year’s offsets. If the license was transferred, the previous owner pays the offset obligations through the date they left the premises. You will pay offsets starting from the date you first occupy the facility onward.

City Council originally adopted a higher fee that has since been reduced to $0.0207 per kWh. As the EIOF revenue is used to fund renewable energy projects, the fee will continue to be reduced. Electricity used in January 2022 forward will be further reduced to $0.0185 per kWh. The goal of the fund is to assist in putting more renewable energy projects on the ground locally, which in turn puts more renewable energy into the energy grid mix.

CID staff will email your invoice to at least two contacts at your facility. Once received, you have 30 days to pay the invoice. You can pay it in multiple ways, shown on the bottom of the invoice and also on the website.

To show compliance with this ordinance requirement, you must pay down the bill monthly and have it paid off before your annual license renewal and/or the next electricity offset invoice is issued.

The best way to reduce the amount of offset fee you pay is to make your grow operation as efficient as possible. Lighting is the biggest consumer of electricity in grow facilities and installing more efficient lighting would therefore reduce your electricity use. If you reduce your electricity use, you’ll reduce the fee, which is based on the amount of kWhs used monthly. To learn more about reducing your facilities’ energy use and how to receive rebates and EIOF credits for implementing energy efficiency upgrades, complete this interest form.

After you’ve submitted your license application to the City’s Licensing Team, contact Climate Initiatives Department staff to ensure you are registered with them for energy reporting and choosing your offset option. Complete this electricity offset form and once you submit it, it will be emailed to the climate staff.

The city used EIOF revenues to support projects that lower the environmental impact of the cannabis cultivation industry and to help provide more affordable energy options for the community’s households with low incomes.

The City of Boulder’s cannabis licensing requirements state that a licensed cultivation facility must report monthly energy use and then offset 100% of its electricity use. Licensed cultivation facilities that opt into the fund will pay their offset cost bi-annually and will be invoiced for the kilowatt (kWhs) hours used for the time designated. The city will provide benefits back to the cannabis cultivation industry by investing in projects that offset their electricity use, which will in turn lower the fees that licensed facilities must pay.

Any requests for invoice corrections to prior payments and/or credit through a city program must be submitted through a written request. Formal approval or rejection of the request will be provided in writing by the city. If an EIOF invoice was issued and paid, then errors were identified, it is the licensee's obligation to submit documentation as proof to the city that the invoice amount should be corrected. The city will evaluate and correct the EIOF amount and fee discrepancies will be credited to the next EIOF invoice.

Contact the Regulatory Licensing Division at licensingonline@bouldercolorado.gov to begin the process AND email the EIOF team at EIOF@bouldercolorado.gov to arrange final payment of your offset obligation. Per city manager rule, the company cannot relinquish their license until these fees are paid in full.