Standby Generators at Ontario Commercial Properties: What the Environmental Exemption Requires From Installation to Removal
The power came back. Now open the run log: an Ontario standby generator stays outside the approval regime only while it is run, tested and documented the way the regulation describes, and the gas and electrical rules still apply on top.
When the lights come back on at an Ontario commercial building, what does the regulation expect the standby generator file to show?
Environmental Protection Act s.9(1) requires an environmental compliance approval for equipment that may discharge a contaminant into the air, and O. Reg. 524/98 s.1(1) item 26 lifts that requirement for a standby power source. Section 4 then sets what the owner or operator must ensure, which is what the file should be able to show: the unit ran only during outages or involuntary power reductions, or for testing and maintenance; testing and maintenance runs stayed at or under 60 hours in any 12-month period and followed the manufacturer’s recommendations and generally accepted standards; and every test or maintenance run has a record of date, time and duration, kept for at least five years.
Source: O. Reg. 524/98, s.0.1, s.1(1) para. 26 and s.4, as amended by O. Reg. 249/26 (Government of Ontario, e-Laws consolidation from September 1, 2026); Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19, s.9(1)
I’m Arthur Zhao, a Toronto real estate Broker. The outage lasted an afternoon. The generator behind the building started on cue, the tenants kept their lights and freezers, and by evening grid power was back. The next morning the property manager pulls up the generator file, not to admire how well it worked, but to answer a quieter question: across the last twelve months, did this machine stay inside the rules that let it run without an environmental approval?
That question has a precise answer in Ontario, and it lives in a short paragraph of O. Reg. 524/98. The paragraph only works if the file behind it was kept properly from the day the unit went in. So this article follows a standby generator through its life at a commercial property, from choosing and installing it, to switching it on, to the yearly testing and record-keeping, to the day it is replaced, removed or left behind when a tenant moves out or the building sells. At each stage I point to the rule that applies and to the lease question that the rule leaves open.
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Stage 1: Choosing and installing the unit
If it burns natural gas or propane, the installer needs a certificate. O. Reg. 212/01 (Gaseous Fuels) s.6(1) says no person shall install, alter, purge, activate, repair, service or remove any appliance or equipment used in the handling or use of gas unless the person holds a certificate for that purpose. Those certificates are issued under O. Reg. 215/01 (Fuel Industry Certificates). Section 21(1) adds a second layer: no person shall act as a contractor unless registered for the purpose. A gas generator install therefore involves two checks: is the person doing the work certified, and is the business doing the job registered as a contractor. The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is the body that administers this regime.
Connecting it to the building is electrical work. O. Reg. 164/99 s.2 requires every act or omission in connection with the generation or use of electricity in Ontario to comply with the Electrical Safety Code, which s.1 defines as the CSA Canadian Electrical Code Part 1, C22.1:24, together with the Electrical Safety Authority’s Ontario amendments. A generator wired into a building’s electrical system falls under that. The regulation itself does not list the filing or inspection steps for a given job, so confirm them with a licensed electrical contractor or with ESA before work starts.
On a leased property, this is also when the lease should be written. None of these regulations says whether the landlord or the tenant buys, owns, insures or removes the unit. That is left entirely to the lease, and it is easiest to settle before the concrete pad is poured.
Stage 2: Putting it into service
The exemption. According to O. Reg. 524/98 (Government of Ontario, current consolidation from September 1, 2026), s.9 of the Act does not apply to a standby power source (s.1(1), item 26). That is why a building can put a standby generator into service without applying for its own ECA.
The first condition starts on day one. Section 4, item 1 says the owner or operator must ensure the standby power source is used and operated only to provide electrical power during power outages or involuntary power reductions, or for testing or maintenance on the unit. Those are the only three purposes in that list. The regulation does not spell out, inside s.4, what happens to the exemption if a unit runs for some other purpose. Section 4 is drafted as a duty the owner or operator must ensure, so if a building runs the unit outside these purposes, it would be departing from that duty, and how a regulator would treat it is a question for a lawyer, case by case.
The air-registration side. Some facilities have to register under the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR) regime for air emissions, O. Reg. 1/17. Section 13(2), item 2 of that regulation excludes an electricity generation engine that is in a standby power system from the combustion equipment that must be described in the EASR report, and s.13(5) defines a standby power system as one intended to be used only during power outages or involuntary power reductions. That carve-out is about what goes into the report. It does not mean a facility that needs EASR registration for its other activities is excused from registering. Note also that O. Reg. 346/12, the older registration regulation for heating and standby power systems, is not the current rule and should not be cited as one.
⚠️Exempt from an ECA is not the same as exempt from everything. O. Reg. 1/17 leaves a standby engine out of the EASR combustion-equipment description, but a facility that needs EASR registration for other activities still needs it. Check the whole site, not only the generator.
💡 The exemption takes away one approval, not every rule. O. Reg. 524/98 s.1(7) says an exemption under that regulation does not relieve a person of any other legal duty or obligation, including one arising under an existing environmental compliance approval. My read for owners and tenants is practical: the same generator still has to clear a gas gate (certified installers and service technicians, a registered contractor) and an electrical gate (the Electrical Safety Code), and if the site already holds an ECA, its terms still apply. When someone says the generator is exempt, the useful follow-up question is: exempt from what, exactly?
Stage 3: Every year it runs: testing and records
How testing is done. Item 3 requires testing and maintenance to be conducted in a manner that satisfies the manufacturer’s recommendations and generally accepted standards. Keeping the manufacturer’s manual and the service contract in the same file as the run log is how a building shows this one.
What the record must contain. Item 4 requires a record of the date, time and duration of each occasion when the generating equipment runs for testing or maintenance, retained for at least five years after the day it is created.
Back to the morning after the outage. The 60-hour cap and the record requirement in items 2 and 4 are written about testing and maintenance runs. The regulation does not set an hour cap on outage running, and item 4 does not require a log of outage runs. If the unit has a single hour meter, though, the only way to show which hours were testing and which were outage is to note the outage separately. That is a record-keeping choice, not a requirement in the text, and it is the one that lets the property manager answer the post-outage question from the file instead of from memory.
Who keeps the log on a leased property. The regulation puts these duties on the owner or operator. Where a tenant operates a generator it installed for its own premises, the lease can say who runs the tests, who books the service technician and who holds the records. If the lease is silent, the regulation does not fill that gap between landlord and tenant.
ℹ️Five years is the minimum, counted per record. O. Reg. 524/98 s.4, item 4 says each record must be retained for at least five years after the day it is created. A test logged today has its own five-year clock.
Stage 4: Replacement, removal, the end of a lease or a sale
Removing a gas unit. O. Reg. 212/01 s.6(1) includes remove in the list of activities that require a certificate. Disconnecting a gas generator at the end of a lease is certified work, not a moving-day task.
The records outlast the tenancy. Each record must be kept at least five years after the day it is created, which can run past the end of a lease term. If a tenant operated the unit and is leaving, the lease (or a surrender agreement) can say whether the logs stay with the building, go with the tenant, or are copied to both. The regulation does not answer that.
A buyer’s view. A purchaser of a commercial building with a standby generator is buying equipment whose exemption depends on how it has been run. Asking for the run log for the last five years, the service records, and the gas and electrical paperwork for the installation is how a buyer checks that file. What those documents mean for a specific transaction is a question for the buyer’s lawyer.
Generator checklist by point in time
Each item maps to a stage above. The lease items are questions the regulations leave open, so the answers come from the parties, not from the law.
- ☐Confirm the unit’s intended use is standby only, as O. Reg. 524/98 defines a standby power source
- ☐Ask the gas installer for the certificate number under O. Reg. 215/01 and the contractor’s registration under O. Reg. 212/01 s.21(1)
- ☐Confirm with a licensed electrical contractor or ESA what filing or inspection the connection needs under the Electrical Safety Code
- ☐Write into the lease who owns, insures, services and eventually removes the unit
- ☐Write into the lease whether fuel, testing and service costs are additional rent or paid directly by the tenant
- ☐Name in the lease who acts as operator for testing and record-keeping
- ☐Log the date, time and duration of every test or maintenance run
- ☐Check the rolling total of testing and maintenance hours against 60 hours in any 12-month period
- ☐Keep the manufacturer’s recommendations and the service reports with the log
- ☐Note outage runs separately if the unit has a single hour meter
- ☐Book only certified technicians for any service on a gas unit
- ☐Agree in writing where the last five years of run records will be kept
- ☐Use a certified gas technician for any disconnection or removal
- ☐Hand the buyer or incoming operator the run log, service history and installation paperwork
- ☐Have a lawyer review how the lease or purchase agreement deals with the unit
- O. Reg. 524/98, Environmental Compliance Approvals: Exemptions from Section 9 of the Act (e-Laws, consolidation from September 1, 2026)
- Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19, s.9
- O. Reg. 1/17, Registrations under Part II.2: Activities Requiring Assessment of Air Emissions, s.13
- O. Reg. 212/01, Gaseous Fuels, s.6 and s.21
- O. Reg. 164/99, Electrical Safety Code, s.1 and s.2
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Frequently Asked Questions
I manage a commercial building. How many hours can we test our standby generator each year?
O. Reg. 524/98 s.4, item 2 caps testing and maintenance runs at 60 hours in any 12-month period. The window is any 12 months, not the calendar year, so check the total looking back twelve months from today. Outage running is not counted under that item.
We’re a tenant and want to install our own natural gas generator. Can our regular handyman do it?
Only if that person holds the right certificate. O. Reg. 212/01 s.6(1) says no one may install, alter, activate, service or remove gas equipment without a certificate for that purpose, and s.21(1) requires a contractor to be registered. Your lease also needs to cover ownership, removal and who keeps the run records.
I’m buying a commercial building with a backup generator. What paperwork should I ask the seller for?
Ask for the testing and maintenance run log (O. Reg. 524/98 s.4 requires each record to be kept at least five years), the service history, and the gas and electrical installation paperwork. Those documents show whether the unit was run within the exemption conditions. Your lawyer can advise what they mean for your deal.
Does a standby generator need an environmental compliance approval in Ontario?
Not under s.9 of the Environmental Protection Act, as long as it is a standby power source under O. Reg. 524/98 s.1(1), item 26. Section 4 then requires outage-only use (plus testing and maintenance), a 60-hour testing cap in any 12-month period, and records kept at least five years. Under s.1(7), the exemption does not lift any other legal duty.
As a property manager, do I need to log the hours the generator ran during a blackout?
O. Reg. 524/98 s.4, item 4 requires a date, time and duration record for testing and maintenance runs; it does not require one for outage runs. If the unit has one hour meter, noting outages separately is how you show which hours count toward the 60-hour testing cap.
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