Buildings account for more than half of Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to energy and water use.
Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law, under Chapter 367 of Toronto’s Municipal Code, requires owners of buildings 929 m2 (10,000 ft2) and larger to report energy and water use to the City annually. Buildings 4,645m2 (50,000 ft2) and larger will begin to report in 2024, and buildings 929m2 (10,000 ft2) and larger will be required to report in 2025.
Ontario’s Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) regulation (O.Reg. 506/18) also requires large buildings to report their annual energy and water use to the Ministry of Energy by July 1st of each year.
Annual energy and water use reporting allows building owners to track their buildings’ performance over time and compare it with the performance of other buildings that are similar. This can help building owners identify opportunities to increase their buildings’ energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions.
See below to find out whether your building is required to report, and to access information, resources, and supports from the City of Toronto that will help you with the energy and water benchmarking and reporting process.
Benchmarking is the process of tracking a building’s energy and water use and comparing its performance over time, and to the performance of similar buildings. Benchmarking is the first step towards improving building efficiency.
Benchmarking your building’s energy and water use can help you:
There are two key reporting requirements Toronto building owners need to be aware of:
Owners of buildings that have a gross floor area of 4,645 square meters (50,000 square feet) and larger:
Owners of buildings that have a gross floor area of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) and larger:
Please note: The Gross Floor Area (GFA) of a single building or structure is the sum of the total area of each floor level of a building, above and below the ground, measured from the exterior surface of the enclosed exterior walls on each floor level.
Please note: Some building types are exempt from reporting EWRB data to the Ontario Ministry of Energy. For a full list of the property types required to report under O.Reg. 506/18, see the List of building types in the Ministry of Energy’s guide to energy and water reporting.
The City of Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law requires building owners to report both descriptive information and performance information for each building that is subject to the by-law’s reporting requirement.
This helps the City to identify your building and distinguish it from other properties. Descriptive information also helps the City to compare your building’s performance to an appropriate set of similar buildings.
Examples of descriptive information include:
This tells the City how much energy and water were used by your building during the previous year. For example, if your reporting deadline is July 2, 2024, then you will report how much energy and water your building used during the 2023 calendar year.
Examples of performance information include:
For a complete list of the descriptive and performance information that building owners are required to report for each building, please see section 367-2.2 of the City’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law.
The deadline for reporting energy and water data to the City of Toronto is the first business day in July each year.
The deadline for reporting EWRB data to the Ontario Ministry of Energy is July 1st each year.
Building owners report their buildings’ data to both the City of Toronto and the Ontario Ministry of Energy using Energy Star Portfolio Manager. Energy Star Portfolio Manager is a free online tool developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and adapted for use in Canada by Natural Resources Canada.
For a 2-page summary of the reporting process, see Summary Guide for Toronto Building Owners.
The City of Toronto has created a series of instructional videos to help you document and report your building’s energy and water use using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool:
For detailed written instructions on how to submit your report using Energy Star Portfolio Manager, please refer to the Ministry of Energy Portfolio Manager Guide.
When you are ready to submit your data, use the reporting buttons below:
Report to the City of TorontoReport to the Ontario Ministry of Energy
You can download the data from individual Toronto Water accounts directly from the City of Toronto’s MyWaterToronto online self-serve portal. To learn more, watch this short how-to video.
The City of Toronto will provide aggregated whole-building water consumption data for a property in the following two cases:
To request aggregated whole-building water consumption data from the City, email buildingreporting@toronto.ca.
To receive aggregated water data, you must provide the property address and the Toronto Water account numbers associated with the property. If you do not know the water account numbers for the property, you must provide the property address and the assessment roll number to allow the City to look up the water account numbers for the property.
Please note: If you are a consultant requesting water data on behalf of a property owner, please provide a signed letter from the property owner giving the City of Toronto permission to provide you with water data for their properties.
You can request your monthly electricity and natural gas data by using the online data request forms on Toronto Hydro and Enbridge Gas. To learn more, watch this short how-to video.
Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law requires owners of buildings 9,290m2 (100,000ft2) and larger to have a certified professional verify their data once every five years, starting with the first year they report to the City.
The certified professional takes a second look over the data to make sure that values have been entered into Energy Star Portfolio Manager appropriately and to ensure that the values entered look reasonable and are within the ranges to be expected for that building (e.g. checking that the value entered for electricity use reflects the whole building’s electricity use and not just the electricity used in the building’s common areas).
For the purposes of data verification, examples of certified professionals include:
To learn more, watch this how-to video on verifying and submitting your data.
The City of Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law (under Municipal Code Chapter 367) requires large buildings in Toronto to report their energy and water use data to the City each year by the first business day in July.
Ontario’s Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) regulation (O.Reg. 506/18) requires large buildings in Ontario to report their annual energy and water use to the Ministry of Energy each year by July 1st.
If you are new to benchmarking and reporting, watch this short video to learn how benchmarking and reporting energy and water use can help building owners improve building performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Unlike the Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) requirement from the Ontario Ministry of Energy, the City of Toronto’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law does not have ongoing exceptions for buildings with certain property uses. Buildings are required to report to the City in 2024 if they have a gross floor area of 4,645 square meters (50,000 square feet), regardless of property use.
However, there are some circumstances in which building owners may be granted full or partial exemptions from reporting for a particular year. These include:
In each of the above circumstances (except where specifically indicated), the property owner or their representative must apply for an exemption or partial exemption for the particular property at least 60 days before the reporting deadline to which the exemption or partial exemption would apply.
For example, to receive an exemption or partial exemption for the reporting period ending July 2, 2024, a building owner would need to submit a request for exemption on or before May 3, 2024.
A property owner can apply for an exemption for a property by completing an online exemption request form. A link to the online Exemption Request Form will be posted to the www.toronto.ca/EWRB webpage shortly.
Requests for exemptions must be received at least 60 days before the report deadline, along with any supporting documentation required for the type of exemption being requested. For example, a copy of the certificate of occupancy for a newly constructed building. For the reporting period ending July 2, 2024, all requests for exemption must be received on or before May 3, 2024.
The City’s Better Building Partnership (BBP) arranges webinars to provide information and guidance on the reporting process.
The City is hosting two informational webinars to help building owners understand the City’s Energy and Water Reporting By-law and how to report their data:
Energy and Water Reporting By-law for Existing Buildings: Tuesday, March 19, noon to 12:45 p.m.
How to Report – City of Toronto Energy and Water Reporting By-Law: Monday, April 25, noon to 12:45 p.m.
Register
This series of videos provides step-by-step instructions on how to use Energy Star Portfolio Manager to document and report your building’s energy and water use.
Natural Resources Canada offers free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager building energy benchmarking tools, information sessions, presentations and training webinars on their benchmarking training resources webpage.
For specific questions about ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, please refer to the Natural Resources Canada Benchmarking FAQ or email your questions to buildings-batiments@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.
Ontario’s Guide to Energy and Water Reporting provides a detailed overview of the EWRB regulation’s reporting requirements.
The Ministry of Energy’s Portfolio Manager Guide provides detailed written instructions on how to submit your report using Energy Star Portfolio Manager.
If you have questions about reporting that were not answered above, or you need assistance with some aspect of the reporting process, use the contact information below.
City of Toronto Energy and Water Reporting Help Centre
Email: buildingreporting@toronto.ca
Ontario Ministry of Energy EWRB Support Centre
Phone: 1-844-274-0689
Email: EWRBSupport@ontario.ca
The City’s Navigation & Support Services program can help you identify opportunities to improve your building’s energy efficiency and can help you access incentives and financing for energy retrofit projects.
For more information, visit Better Buildings Navigation & Support Services.