Electricity

As the number of electric vehicles grows in B.C., electricity is becoming a prominent low carbon fuel in transportation.

Under the LCFS, electricity is reported if used instead of fossil-derived diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel in transportation and other prescribed purposes.

If you supply electricity and the LCFS applies to you, you must report the electricity to receive tradable compliance units (credits).

For more information, see:

• RLCF-020: Electricity Supply and Reporting Requirements
• RLCF-022: Reportable Purposes other than Transportation
• Responses to commonly asked questions regarding electricity supply: Electricity Supply FAQ (PDF, 138KB)
• Credit Market page and download the LCFS Compliance Unit Calculator (XLSX, 75KB)

Reporting Electricity

To report electricity, you must be a fuel supplier or have an allocation agreement with the fuel supplier.

For electricity, the fuel supplier is the person who provides the electricity through Final Supply Equipment (such as an EV charger), except where the utility is considered the supplier in the following cases: 

• EV charging at a residential building with fewer than five dwelling units
• TransLink trains and electric trolley routes existing on December 31, 2020 

Exclusion for Electricity

A person with less than 15000 kWh does not report the electricity if they are not responsible for any other fuel.

Reporting Deadline

As with all other fuels, electricity must be reported on or before March 31 following the end of the compliance period. Each compliance period begins on January 1 and ends on December 31.

Prior to reporting electricity supplied through the final supply equipment, you must identify all chargers to the Low Carbon Fuels Branch. To identify an electric vehicle charger, download and complete the Final Supply Equipment Identification form (XLSX, 42KB)

Completed forms must be submitted by email to lcfs@gov.bc.ca or through the "File Submission" feature in the Transportation Fuels Reporting System (TFRS).

Allocation Agreements

You can transfer the responsibility for your electricity to anyone in B.C. through allocation agreements.

With allocation agreements, someone else can aggregate and report the electricity:

• If you do not want to report yourself, or
• If your supply is less than 15000 kWh

See RLCF-015a: Allocation Agreements for more information.