Expanded Energy Management Program

The Expanded Energy Management (EEM) Program will provide support for commercial, institutional and industrial facilities in Ontario, which are connected to the IESO-controlled grid or a distribution system.

All industrial program activities funded by NRCan must be completed by March 31, 2027. All commercial and institutional program activities are active under the 2025-2027 eDSM framework.

Yes, additional eligibility criteria such as baseline energy consumption can be found in the SEM Requirements – All or Energy Manager Requirements – All.

An organization may combine up to five facilities to reach the minimum energy consumption criteria under one application for Strategic Energy Management, Energy Manager and Training. The annual baseline consumption for multiple industrial facilities cannot be aggregated to determine the EMIS incentive. The EMIS incentive is determined by the annual baseline consumption for a single industrial facility that is eligible for a one-time incentive for implementing an EMIS measure at that facility.

The EEM Program provides funding to participants to employ a full-time energy manager working in the facility of the participant to a maximum incentive of up to $100,000 per 12-month period.

The Energy Management Systems incentive offered through EEM is available to industrial participants only. The incentives are provided at the post approval of the application (i.e. after confirming that the applicants met the requirements following the installation of the system).

A participant can stack incentives from other funding organizations; however, there may be stacking limits in the initiatives under the EEM Program and/or other programs administered by the IESO, a local electricity or gas distributor or any other party.

The Strategic Energy Management (SEM) initiative under the EEM Program provides enabling incentives. Upon confirmed completion of the SEM milestones, the participant may receive energy management tools and/or services which can help participants better manage energy at their facilities.

Solar PVs are not eligible for funding under the EEM program. Installation of Solar PV systems are offered through the IESO’s Save on Energy Retrofit Program.

A representative from the IESO’s Save on Energy Program team will provide you with tentative timelines after you apply for the EEM program. For details on when participants will receive the incentives, please refer to the program requirements and participant agreement.

If an organization intends to move an existing employee into the Energy Manager position, they must fill the employee’s previous position within a specific timeline by hiring a new employee. If an organization has already employed an energy manager, the Energy Manager funding can be applied to hiring an incremental full-time employee to work with the existing energy manager.

**With financial support from NRCan’s Green Industrial Facilities and Manufacturing Program, Industrial organizations that join the program by June 30th 2025, may apply the Energy Manager funding to an existing employee that meets the eligibility criteria. For those organizations that join the program after June 30th 2025, the Energy Manager funding will require incremental full-time employment.

The Energy Manager is expected to work full-time at the participant facility/facilities of the participant.

An organization must employ an energy manager that meets the energy manager eligibility criteria and has the demonstrated technical ability to perform the energy manager duties, see program rules.

When an organization receives funding for hiring an energy manager, fees for professional training can be considered part of the hiring costs.

The EEM program does not provide study funding.

An organization already participating in the Save on Energy SEM program can participate in the EEM Program. Please contact IESO SEM delivery agent at SEM@ieso.ca for details on how to apply.

Industrial facilities must have a total energy consumption (all fuels) of at least 20,000 GJ, and Commercial and Institutional facilities must have a total energy consumption of (electricity) of 3,000,000 MWh for a 12-month period within the 24 months prior to the application submission. For further details, please refer to the facility eligibility criteria in the SEM Program Requirements.

The Industrial SEM and/or EM participants under the EEM program are expected to report energy savings resulting from electricity, natural gas, and other stationary combustion fuels to the IESO/NRCan through the program reporting periods.

The Commercial and Institutional SEM and/or EM participants under the EEM program are expected to report energy savings resulting from electricity to the IESO through the program reporting periods.

Industrial facilities are open to utilize a service provider of choice to achieve 50001 Ready status. However, for the implementation of an Energy Management Information System the facility must demonstrate its commitment to energy management through a number of requirements, including existence of energy policy, as well as availability of an energy manager and energy team. See program requirements.

Participants must submit a Measurement and Verification (M&V) plan to be eligible for incentives for the EMIS measure. Although there is no requirement to demonstrate the savings based on the M&V report the IESO may conduct evaluations for participants to verify the savings associated with the EMIS measure. All program activities funded by NRCan must be completed by March 31, 2027.