Budget planning

Budget Planning lets you create, edit, and activate annual energy budgets for one building in the building view. Expand Budget in the left sidebar and open Planning. After you finalize a budget, track performance on Building budget overview. For portfolio-wide budget tables, use Portfolio budget and planning.

Open Budget Planning

Select a building

From Portfolio Home, open a building in the building view.

Open Planning

In the left sidebar, expand Budget, then click Planning.

Manage budgets

The Budget Planning list shows every budget you created for the building. Click + Create New Budget to start the six-step wizard. Use Actions on a row to edit or delete a budget.

Budget Planning page for One Financial Plaza with Search Status and Year filters and table showing budget names Delete 2026 Budget 2024 Budget 2025 Budget with Draft Active and Completed status badges periods and Total Cost up to 1235273 dollars with edit and delete actions — Budget Planning list with status and total cost

Column	What it shows
Budget Name	Label for the plan. Click the name to open the wizard
Status	Draft, Active, or Completed
Period	Start and end dates for the budget year
Total Cost	Sum of planned cost across included service types
Actions	Edit or delete the budget

Control	Purpose
Search	Find a budget by name
Status	Filter by Draft, Active, or Completed
Year	Filter budgets by calendar year

Only one budget should be Active for a given period when you use it for variance on Building budget overview.

Create a budget

Click + Create New Budget to open the wizard. Progress appears in the left sidebar across six steps.

Step 1: Basic setup

Define the budget name, planning method, service types, and period.

Budget Planning wizard step 1 of 6 Basic Setup with Budget Name 2026 Budget Smart Generation selected Model dropdown Service Types Electric and District Steam and Budget Start January 2026 End December 2026 — Budget Planning wizard step 1 Basic Setup

Field	Purpose
Budget Name	Display name in lists and reports
Description	Optional notes
Planning Method	Smart Generation builds projections from history, Reference Year copies a baseline period, or Manual Entry for direct monthly input
Model	Trained model from Model configuration when you use Smart Generation or Reference Year
Service Types	Commodities in the plan, such as Electric and District Steam
Budget Start Date / Budget End Date	Planning period, typically a full calendar year

Click Next to continue.

Step 2: Predicted values

Review monthly consumption EnerG predicts from your planning method and service types.

Confirm seasonal patterns look reasonable before you apply rates. Override values later in Adjustments if you expect anomalies.

Step 3: Rate analysis

Configure rate and escalation settings per service type, then review monthly consumption and cost.

Section	Purpose
District Steam / Electric	Expand each section to set operational parameters and escalation
Electric / District Steam tabs	Switch the monthly table between commodities
Consumption / Cost	Predicted usage and spend for each month

Step 4: Capital planning

Add capital projects so the budget reflects expected savings from conservation . For the underlying concepts, see Measures, curves, and scenarios.

Define measures on Measure Creation and bundle them into a in Scenario Planner under Capital planning before you add projects here. Review payback and savings on Scenario Analysis or compare bundles on Scenario Comparison. Click + Add Project to pull measures from capital planning into this budget. Until you add projects, Consumption Savings and Cost Savings remain zero and After columns match baseline predictions.

Treat Payback (Years) on measures as a planning signal. Confirm capital cost, incentives, and savings against your funding rules before you activate the budget.

When a measure reaches Operations, align it with M&V models so verified savings match the reductions you planned in the budget.

Step 5: Adjustments

Add manual budget adjustments and occupant cost recovery settings.

Click + Add Adjustment for one-time changes that Smart Generation does not capture. The monthly table shows Consumption Adjustments, Cost Adjustments, and After totals per month.

Step 6: Review and finalize

Review annual totals, emissions, meters, and a historical comparison chart before you save.

Metric	What it shows
Total Annual Cost	Sum of planned spend for the period
Total Carbon Emissions	Planned emissions in kgCO₂e
Total Energy Consumption	Planned usage across service types
Meters Used	Meters that feed the budget model
Budget vs Actual Over the Years	Compares the new plan to historical actual cost

Click Finish to save the budget. Set status to Active when the plan is ready for variance tracking.

Budget statuses

Status	When to use it
Draft	Work in progress. Not used in overview variance until activated
Active	Official plan for the period. Drives Budget columns on Building budget overview
Completed	Closed plan for a prior year. Keep for audit and year-over-year comparison

Next steps

Building budget overview

Compare actual spend to your active budget with charts and tables.

Model configuration

Configure simpler manual or Smart Generation models outside the full wizard.

Capital planning

Define measures and projects to include in step 4 of the wizard.

Utility cost analysis

Download utility statements and review cost dashboards.

Get Started

Concepts

Portfolio view

Building view

Reference

Open Budget Planning

Manage budgets