Infeasible or uncertain pathways

Local governments in British Columbia have limited and carefully defined authority to require building performance standards for existing buildings. While municipalities can likely regulate existing buildings to conserve energy or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this authority is constrained by the Community Charter, the Building Act, and the BC Building Code. In practice, local governments generally cannot impose building performance standards outside of the provincially established Energy Step Code or Zero Carbon Step Code.

While local governments likely cannot impose independent building performance standards on existing buildings, they can require compliance with Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code standards when an existing building triggers the application of the Building Code through a building permit.

Recommissioning of existing buildings refers to the process of reviewing, testing, and adjusting building systems—such as heating, ventilation, and other energy related systems—to ensure they are operating as intended and performing efficiently over time. In existing buildings, recommissioning is often used to improve energy performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, retrofit commissioning may be seen as a way to ensure that investments in building improvements deliver real performance outcomes.

Unfortunately, local governments likely cannot require recommissioning of existing buildings through their own bylaw powers. They would need to rely on provincially approved regulation to impose such a requirement.

Local governments are increasingly interested in improving the efficiency of building equipment—such as encouraging the use of heat pumps instead of electric resistance (e.g., baseboard heater) systems—to support energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction. They may also be interested in promoting demand response enabled equipment, such as domestic hot water tanks, that are manufactured with controls allowing them to respond to utility signals and adjust electricity use during peak demand periods.

Municipal authority to regulate specific levels of equipment efficiency through the building code is highly constrained. They would need to rely on provincially approved regulation to impose such a requirement.

Local governments may wish to disclose the energy performance or “energy score” of buildings to support transparency, benchmarking, or energy‑efficiency objectives.

In BC, a local government’s ability to disclose this information is constrained by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). FIPPA places limits on a public body’s ability to disclose certain third‑party information, including commercial, technical, or financial information supplied in confidence. Energy scores or energy‑use data for commercial buildings may, in some circumstances, fall within these protected categories.

Commercial buildings

It is possible that a local government could be prevented from disclosing a commercial building’s energy score, depending on the specific facts and context, including how the data was obtained and the potential competitive impacts. As a result, local governments should obtain consent from the commercial building owners or businesses before disclosing energy scores or detailed energy use information.

Apartment buildings

A local government can likely disclose the energy score for an apartment building where the score applies to the entire building and is based on overall building characteristics and aggregate energy use. In these circumstances, the information would likely not be considered personal information under FIPPA.

Homes

A local government can likely require homeowners to disclose a home energy score that is based on modelled energy use. Modelled scores, such as those generated through programs like EnerGuide, reflect characteristics such as building size, windows, and heating systems, but do not reveal actual energy consumption or occupant behaviour.

Time of sale

Local governments may be interested in improving transparency about residential building energy performance, particularly at key transition points such as a sale or the start of a new tenancy. While a municipality can likely require a homeowner to measure their building’s energy use, it is unlikely that it could require the homeowner to disclose that information at the time of sale or new tenancy. They could only facilitate voluntary disclosure where the homeowner or current tenant consents in accordance with FIPPA.

Local governments may wish to improve the performance of older or energy‑intensive buildings by requiring energy efficiency retrofits for specific building types—for example, by targeting buildings with high emissions or significant upgrade opportunities.

Local governments may be able to require certain buildings to undertake an energy efficiency retrofit by enacting a bylaw under the Community Charter, but only within specific statutory limits. It is likely they would need to rely on provincially approved regulation to impose such a requirement.

Some local governments are exploring ways to manage overall electricity demand in new buildings by limiting the total electrical capacity relative to floor area, often expressed as a watts per square metre (Watt/m²) limitation.

Municipal authority to regulate the use of a Watt/m² limitation for new construction is highly constrained. They would need to rely on provincially approved regulation to impose such a requirement.