Heat > Unmetered/Unbilled from Electricity

If you lease your business location and utilities are included in your rent, you might not know how much electricity your business needed to heat your building during the year. That means your heating produced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from unmetered/unbilled electricity. This is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission.

Note: If utilities are included in your lease but your building is heated by fuel, such as a gas boiler, you need to add an entry for Heat > Unmetered/Unbilled from Fuel instead.

Enter data about your unmetered or unbilled heat into Climate Smart to calculate the emissions from your inventory period.

On this page:

• Examples of emission sources
• Prepare the data you need
  • Option 1: Actual consumption (most accurate but rare)
  • Option 2: Estimate by area (less accurate but more common)
• Find your emissions data
• Enter data into your inventory

Examples of emission sources

Not sure if you should report this emission source? You should consider tracking this activity in your inventory if:

• You rent a location (such as a room in an office building or an entire warehouse) associated with your organization and heating is included in your lease, which is electric (for example, electric heaters or immersion heaters)

Prepare the data you need

To get your data ready for Climate Smart, choose one of the following options based on the information that’s available to you. This will be the method you use to calculate the GHGs emitted by your organization. 

Remember to collect information for the relevant inventory period.

Option 1: Actual consumption (most accurate but rare)

If your landlord or property manager can provide you with the actual amount of electricity your organization used during the year, you’ll get the most accurate results. You’ll need to ask your landlord or property manager for the following information:

• Amount of electricity used by your organization OR by the entire building (kilowatt hours, gigajoules, or British thermal units)

Option 2: Estimate by area (less accurate but more common)

If you aren’t billed directly, you’ll likely need to estimate the amount of electricity your organization used based on its size and location. This means you’ll need to know:

• Size of your office or facility (warehouse, plant, etc.) in square meters or square feet

Find your emissions data

Not sure where to find the data you need? Try the following suggestions:

Ask your accounting department

Your accounting department might already have the information you need! Ask your accounting team about collecting data for your emissions inventory.

Talk to your landlord

Ask your landlord for information about how your business was heated during the year. If your landlord can’t provide details about the specific room or floor you lease, ask for the electricity used by the entire building for heating, and estimate your amount based on the size of your organization’s space.

Enter data into your inventory

When you’re ready to track emissions from this activity, you can start entering the data you’ve collected into Climate Smart.

Add this activity to your inventory

Before you can enter information about your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, you need to add this activity to your inventory. Learn how to add new activities to your inventory.

Add an entry to your inventory

To enter your data into Climate Smart:

1. Choose a calculation method:

• If you’re entering the exact amount of electricity, select Actual Consumption and enter your information into Climate Smart.
• If you need to estimate based on your building size and location, select Estimate by Area and enter your information into Climate Smart.

2. Enter the start and end dates of the activity you’re measuring. These will usually match the start and end dates of your inventory period.
3. Enter the cost of electricity (including taxes). If this amount is an estimate, select the checkbox next to Cost is estimate. Tell us if you paid in Canadian Dollars (CAD) or United States Dollars (USD) from the Currency drop-down list.
   
   If you don’t know the cost of electricity, enter 0 as Cost.
4. Under Description, tell us the source of your data. In this field, mention your rental agreement and/or the percentage of utilities you pay for.
5. In the Note box, enter optional information including any details that might be helpful for you (or your Climate Smart Advisor, if applicable) in the future. 
6. When you’re done, click ADD ENTRY. Your entry will appear in the table below.