Existing Building Commissioning Incentives in Massachusetts: What Qualifies for Mass Save EBCx

Mass Save Existing Building Commissioning, or EBCx, is an incentive for commercial and industrial buildings in Massachusetts. It covers up to 100 percent of the cost of studying how existing building systems perform, then pays $0.17 per kWh and $1.20 per therm for savings that are implemented and verified. The work is also known as retrocommissioning, or RCx.

If you own or operate a commercial or industrial building in Massachusetts, the Sponsors of Mass Save will cover up to 100 percent of the cost of studying how your building systems are actually performing, and will pay you again for the savings once the recommended fixes are made. The offer is called Existing Building Commissioning, or EBCx. The catch is not the money. It is the eligibility, which is more specific than most facility teams expect, and the preparation, which determines whether a building qualifies or not.

What does the Mass Save EBCx program fund?

EBCx funds the investigation and correction of how your existing building systems operate. It is not a capital replacement program.

Buildings drift out of tune. Sensors fall out of calibration. Control sequences get overridden during a service call and never restored. Valves and dampers stick. Occupancy schedules stop matching how the space is really used. The equipment keeps running, so nothing presents as broken, but the building consumes more energy than it needs and occupants notice it as comfort complaints.

The Mass Save Sponsors describe the common measures identified through EBCx as improvements in building control, component repairs, and sensor calibrations. In other words, the program pays to find and correct operational problems in equipment you already own.

Two payments are available. The Sponsors offer up to 100 percent of the cost of qualification and investigation studies, depending on building size and complexity. Then, for measures that are implemented and verified, the Sponsors pay incentives of $0.17 per kWh and $1.20 per therm on top of the study payments.

How is Mass Save EBCx funded?

Mass Save is a statewide efficiency effort delivered through the utilities, which the program calls Sponsors. There are six: Berkshire Gas, Cape Light Compact, Eversource, Liberty Utilities, National Grid, and Unitil.

Massachusetts requires each Sponsor to collect a set charge on every commercial and residential bill, assessed per therm of gas and per kilowatt hour of electricity. Those charges pool into the Mass Save program budgets, which are set through a three year energy efficiency and decarbonization plan approved by the state.

This matters for how facility leaders should think about the offer. Your buildings have been contributing to that pool for years through the utility bill. EBCx is one of the more direct mechanisms available for drawing those dollars back into your own portfolio.

It also matters for timing. Program budgets are planned in three year cycles, and offer terms are revised between cycles. An offer that is available and generously funded in one plan period may be scoped differently in the next.

How does EBCx support BERDO and energy reporting compliance?

Massachusetts building owners are working under a growing set of energy reporting and emissions requirements, and those requirements increasingly reward buildings that can document operational performance.

In Boston, the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance, known as BERDO, requires covered buildings to report annual energy and water use and to meet declining emissions standards. According to the City of Boston, buildings begin complying with emissions standards in either 2025 or 2030 depending on size, and third party verification by a qualified energy professional is required in the first reporting year, when reporting for a building’s first emissions compliance year, and every five years after that. Cambridge operates a comparable performance standard under its Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance, and other municipalities including Newton have adopted their own versions.

Thresholds, compliance years, and covered building definitions differ by municipality, so any specific obligation should be confirmed against the ordinance that governs the individual property.

The connection to EBCx is practical rather than regulatory. EBCx is not a compliance program and participation does not satisfy any reporting requirement. But an investigation study produces exactly the documentation these frameworks ask for: a measured account of how systems are operating, a prioritized set of improvements, and verified savings after implementation. Buildings that go through EBCx tend to arrive at reporting deadlines with better data and a defensible improvement record.

Who is eligible for Mass Save EBCx?

This is where the program is more particular than the summary materials suggest, and where portfolios most often get screened out. The Mass Save offer page sets out several categories of eligibility.

Account requirements

The offer is valid only for commercial and industrial accounts in Massachusetts served by one of the six Sponsors, and the account must be active. Facility staff must be available to support an in depth commissioning and implementation process. The investigation depends on access, system knowledge, and responsiveness from the people who run the building.

Building type

The facility must be an existing commercial or industrial building. Residential and multifamily buildings are not eligible for this offer.

No major work planned

There can be no ongoing, planned, or apparent need for major renovation or major capital projects at the facility within two years, and the building cannot be under consideration for the Mass Save New Construction and Major Renovations offer. The logic is straightforward: tuning systems that are about to be replaced does not produce durable savings.

Documentation

The building needs records available, including original plans, specifications, as built drawings, controls sequences of operation, preventive maintenance plans, and past energy reports. In practice, this is the criterion that most often stalls an otherwise strong candidate. Buildings with thin documentation are harder to commission and harder to qualify.

Performance profile

Additional factors may be considered, including whether the building’s energy use intensity, or EUI, indicates moderate efficiency relative to similar buildings in the same industry and climate zone, roughly the 25th to 75th percentile. The reasoning is that a building in that band has few remaining quick payback opportunities but meaningful room for optimization. A very inefficient building may be better served by other offers. A highly optimized building has less to gain.

Building management system history

The offer also considers whether the building management system, or BMS, was incentivized by the Sponsors of Mass Save in the last five years. A BMS installed within the last five years that was not incentivized by the Sponsors may still be eligible.

One procedural rule deserves emphasis: all technical work must be completed by a Qualified Service Provider, or QSP, that has been approved by the Mass Save Program Implementer before qualification or commissioning work begins. Work performed ahead of that approval is not covered.

How does the Mass Save EBCx process work?

The Mass Save process runs in five phases. Each has a different owner and a different payment position.

Because the program is administered through the Sponsors with review between phases, participants should plan for a deliberate pace rather than a compressed schedule. Building size, Sponsor queue, and documentation readiness all affect duration.

How to check if your portfolio is eligible for EBCx

For portfolios of any size, a short internal screen saves considerable time. Work through the following for each candidate building.

1. Confirm the Sponsor. Identify which of the six Sponsors provides electric and gas service to the property. Portfolios spanning several service territories can still participate, with each building handled through its own Sponsor.
2. Rule out the exclusions first. Remove residential and multifamily properties, and remove any building with a major renovation or major capital project underway or expected within two years.
3. Check the BMS. Confirm a functional building management system is in place and determine whether it received Sponsor incentives in the last five years.
4. Pull the documentation. Locate plans, specifications, as built drawings, controls sequences of operation, preventive maintenance plans, and recent energy reports. Note the gaps. Closing those gaps early is usually the highest value preparation step available.
5. Look at energy use intensity. Benchmark each building against comparable facilities. Buildings in the moderate efficiency band are the strongest fits.
6. Assess staff capacity honestly. Identify who will support access, system walkthroughs, and implementation coordination. A building without that support is a poor candidate regardless of how well it screens otherwise.
7. Rank rather than submit everything. Submitting a prioritized subset generally produces better outcomes than submitting a full portfolio at once, because it matches Sponsor review capacity and your own staff capacity.

Mixed institutional and municipal portfolios often screen well precisely because the building types vary. Schools and vocational campuses, libraries, administrative buildings, public safety facilities, and community and recreation centers frequently have functional building management systems, long operating histories, and no imminent capital replacement.

Note also that EBCx findings integrate usefully into longer range capital planning. A facility condition assessment tells you what needs replacement and when. An investigation study tells you how well what you already have is running. Together they produce a more defensible life cycle plan than either does alone.

How to get started with Mass Save EBCx

The eligibility rules are detailed, they are revised between program plan cycles, and they are applied with judgment by the Sponsors. That is the part worth delegating.

A practical first step is a portfolio screen: which buildings meet the exclusions, which have the documentation and staff capacity to support commissioning, and which have the energy use profile the offer is designed for. That analysis determines where the funding is realistically available and in what order to pursue it.

Rimkus provides commissioning and energy engineering services through its Energy and Resilience practice, with in house mechanical, electrical, and controls expertise across the Northeast. To discuss which of your Massachusetts buildings are worth submitting, contact Gregory Gilson.

Gregory R. Gilson, P.E.
Director, Energy and Resilience
+1 617 212 7680 | [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions

Program terms described here reflect the Mass Save Existing Building Commissioning offer materials published on masssave.com as of September 2026. Incentive rates, eligibility criteria, and funding levels are set by the Sponsors of Mass Save and the Program Implementer and are subject to change between program plan cycles. Confirm current terms with your Sponsor before making a commitment. Mass Save is not affiliated with Rimkus.