HomeMy WebLinkAboutINS-19-002 - Federal Carbon Charge 2019REPORT TO:Community and Infrastructure Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:February 25, 2019
SUBMITTED BY:Greg St. Louis, Director Utilities
519-741-2600 ext. 4538
PREPARED BY:Jaya Chatterjee,RegulatoryAnalyst, Ext. 4629
WARD (S) INVOLVED:All
DATE OF REPORT:January 30, 2019
REPORT NO.:INS-19-002
SUBJECT:Federal Carbon Charge
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RECOMMENDATION: For Information
BACKGROUND:
On May 2016, the provincial government launched the Ontario Cap-and-Trade Program, which
was a provincially legislated emission trading system to reduce the impacts of climate change.
As a natural gas distributor in Ontario, Kitchener Utilities was mandated to comply with the
legislation and was required to purchase emission compliance instruments on behalf of our
end the Ontario Cap-and-Trade Program and instructed the Ontario Energy Board to direct
natural gas utilities to remove the charge to consumers by October 1, 2018.
Staff brought forward a Council report INS-18-032 to Council on September 24, 2018
recommending the removal of Ontario Cap and Trade component from the delivery rate effective
October 1, 2018.
On June 21, 2018, the Federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act received Royal Assent as
Part 5 of The Budget Implementation Act, 2018. The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
establishes a federal carbon-pricing backstop program on greenhouse gas emissions as of
January 1, 2019 to any province or territory that requests it or that does not have carbon pricing
system in place. On October 23, 2018, it was officially announced that the Federal Carbon
Pricing Backstop would be implemented in Ontario.
The federal carbon-pricing backstop program is composed of two elements:
(i)
importers and producers effective April 1, 2019; and
(ii)an Output-ndustrial facilities effective
January 1, 2019 (establishes carbon-intensity standards for large emitters).
***This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994for assistance.
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Fuel producers and distributors in Backstop Jurisdictions will collect the Federal Carbon Charge
from their customersand remit the collected fundsto CRA.
REPORT:
As a natural gas distributor in Ontario, Kitchener Utilities (Kitchener) will be registered as a
Registered Fuel Distributor with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and will be responsible for
reporting and paying the Federal Carbon Chargeon fuel deliveredto its customers on a monthly
basis. The monthly reporting and remittance to CRA is required at the end of the following month
in which the delivery occurs.
Application of the Federal Carbon Charge:
The Federal Carbon Chargeis only applied when:
a Registered Fuel Distributor uses fuel in a Backstop jurisdiction
delivers fuel to the end-user that has not provided an Exemption Certificate to Kitchener.
Therefore, Kitchener has the obligation to pay the Federal Carbon Charge once fuelhas been
deliveredto its customers that have not provided an Exemption Certificate to Kitchener. At the
time of report, none of the Kitchener customers fall under the exemption certificate category.
Since the Federal Carbon Chargeis only payable once fuel is deliveredto the final user,
Registered Fuel Distributors are able to transact with other Registered Fuel Distributors without
the Federal Carbon Chargebeing payable. As a Registered Fuel Distributor, Kitchener is eligible
for an Exemption Certificate and therefore will be able to purchase gas (commodity) from its
supplier without being charged the Federal Carbon Charge.
As a requirement to comply with thefederal carbon-pricing backstop program,effective April 1,
2019, Kitchener will start collecting the Federal Carbon Chargefrom all its customers at 3.91
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cents/m.
Rate Changes
The Federal Carbon Chargeunder the Federal Backstop will begin at $20/tonne of COe in 2019
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and increase by $10/tonne annually until it reaches $50/tonne in 2022. This will result in a
Federal Carbon Chargeof 3.91 cents/m³on marketable natural gas for 2019.See Appendix A
for Federal Carbon Chargerates on gaseous fuels for marketablenatural gasfor 2019 to 2022.
Bill Presentment & Systems Changes
Consistent with other natural gas utilities in Ontario, Kitchener will beseparating out the Federal
Carbon Chargeon the natural gas bill, which results in better transparency of costs. Kitchener
plans to show a separate line on the bill for the Federal Carbon Chargestarting April 1, 2019.
Penalties
The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act sets out penalties for non-compliance. If Kitchener
fails to register as Registered Fuel Distributor, it will be subject to a $2,000 penalty. Additionally,
Kitchener will be required to pay a penalty if it misses a due date for a filing a return. Kitchener
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is required to maintain payment records and other information related to the Federal Carbon
Chargefor a minimum of 6 years.
Climate action incentive:Funding for Households
90% of the revenue collected from the
Federal CarbonC.Ontario
residents will receive a new tax credit called the Climate Action Incentive when they file their tax
return.The federal government estimates that the average Ontario household will receive $300
in incentive.
Support for particularly affected sectors: Funding for municipalities
The remaining 10% of the revenue collected for the Federal CarbonCharge will be allocated to
specified sectors such as municipalities to help achieve further emission reductions. In Ontario,
$475 million of support will be made available over 5 years from 2019 -2024. There will be $50
million in funding for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Below are the estimates of funding available
specifically for municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals, non-profits and
Indigenous communities. Since the Federal Backstop is still under development, the distribution
of funding, timelines and requirements are not known at this time.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
the delivery of core service.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
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The Federal Carbon Charge is 3.91 cents/meffective April 1, 2019. For 2019 (April -December)
impact to an average residential customer will be $44.20, which was included in the budget
presentation for household impact comparison.
The Federal Carbon Chargecollected from customers, will be remitted to CRA on a monthly
basis.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
Kitchener Utilities will work with the Communications Division to ensure that media outlets are
provided with a press release to inform customers, an insert is being prepared to be distributed
with utility bills in April, and information will be posted on the Kitchener Utilities website.
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INFORM
council / committee meeting.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Denise McGoldrick, General Manager,
Infrastructure Services
Appendix A-CarbonChargeRates on Gaseous Fuels 2018-2022
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