Energy and Carbon Emissions Reporting Requirement

Saanich has introduced a new Energy and Carbon Emissions (ECE) Reporting Requirement for large buildings. It is harmonized with an equivalent requirement at the City of Victoria, with a support service provided by the Capital Regional District (CRD).

More information will be available by fall 2025, with all building owners subject to the requirement contacted by mail. Stay tuned!

What is Energy and Carbon Emissions Reporting?

Energy and Carbon Emissions Reporting, also known as Benchmarking, is the process of measuring and reporting a building’s energy performance over time.

The data will be used by the District of Saanich to improve our community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and strengthen climate-related programs and policies for existing buildings.  Moreover, building owners and managers may use the data to inform energy management practices.

Saanich’s ECE Reporting Requirement

Who has to report?

All buildings, 10,000 square feet (929 m2) or larger are required to report their annual energy use and emissions on an annual basis. The requirement will be phased in as follows:

  • Fall 2025 – Spring 2026: supports will be made available for buildings to voluntary report ahead of the deadline
  • June 1, 2026: Buildings over 30,000 square feet (2787 m2) report their 2025 data
  • June 1, 2027: Buildings 10,000 square feet (929 m2) report their 2025 data

The requirement is NOT applied to:

  • Single family detached or single family attached buildings including rowhouses, townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and houseplexes.
  • Residential buildings with four or fewer residential units.
  • Mixed use buildings where the primary occupancy (i.e. 50 per cent or more of gross floor area) is residential and containing four or fewer residential units.
  • Buildings which have received a demolition permit.

A list of all the buildings that are subject to the requirement, and the floor area of these buildings will be made available.

How is reporting done?

Building owners, property managers, strata councils, or utility account holders can report by taking the following steps:

  1. Create an Energy Star Portfolio Manager Account
  2. Register a Building
  3. Connect utility accounts (BC Hydro and FortisBC) for automated data uploads
  4. Add local government as "read only" on the account for Annual Reporting

The CRD is delivering a support program that will provide:

  • Help Desk/Help Centre: available via phone call or email to answer questions, provide support or help trouble shoot issues
  • Resource Library: will include documents such as fact sheets, checklists, guides, and examples
  • Webinars and Training: live on-line or recorded sessions to provide information on the reporting requirement and how to comply
  • Data Interpretation Tools: tools will be provided to help building owners understand the benchmarking information and make decisions about improving their building's performance

 More Information

  • You can see energy and carbon emissions reporting in practice by checking out Building Benchmark BC (BBBC), North America’s largest voluntary benchmarking program. Many buildings in Saanich have been participating in BBBC over the past 5 years.
  • Saanich Council adopted the Energy and Carbon Emissions Reporting Bylaw and Schedule A on May 12, 2025.
  • There are a range of programs and incentives to support energy efficiency and low-carbon retrofits in existing multi-family buildings and commercial buildings.
  • More information on the background of this requirement can be found at Hello Saanich.