Energy Conservation & Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Provincial Government has passed Ontario Regulation 507/18 under the Electricity Act 1998.  This regulation was published in December 2018 to supplant Ontario Regulation 397/11, made under the Green Energy Act 2009. This regulation requires certain public agencies, including municipalities, to report on their energy consumption and GHG emission annually, beginning in 2013.  The regulation also requires these agencies to develop and implement five-year energy conservation and demand management plans starting in 2014.  These plans are to be reviewed and updated every five years, with the first update due on or before July 1, 2019.  The Township of Sables-Spanish Rivers has updated its Energy Plan.  A copy of the Township’s Energy Plan is available for viewing here.

The Province is committed to reducing GHG emissions.  Certain targets were set out in Go Green:  Ontario’s Action Planwhich was issued in 2007.  O. Reg. 507/18 will help Ontario achieve these reduction targets of:
6% below 1990 levels by 2014;
– 15% by 2020; and
– 80% by 2050


Municipalities are being required to prepare annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions reports for the following reasons:
Municipalities pay more than $680 million for electricity and $275 million for natural gas per year;
– Total electricity consumption by municipalities of over 6.6 billion kWh per year, which is more than any industrial sector other than Pulp & Paper;

– Municipalities have approximately 26,000 electricity accounts.

The Township’s Energy Conservation Reports are available here: