Questions and Answers: Regulation of Ethanol in Gasoline

General Instructions

Fuel suppliers under O.Reg. 535/05 S.s. 1(1) must complete and file the reporting form no later than March 31st of each year, following each compliance year (e.g., March 31st 2008 for 2007 compliance year).

Guidelines to assist in completing the reporting form follow.

Who is required to fill out this form?

Fuel suppliers are required to report if they “placed gasoline in the Ontario market”, which means:

• they have manufactured or blended gasoline with an oxygenate AND used it or sold it at wholesale or retail in Ontario;

OR

• they have imported gasoline into Ontario AND used it or sold it at wholesale or retail in Ontario;

OR

• they have acquired gasoline through an inter-refiner agreement AND used it or sold it at wholesale or retail in Ontario.

Note:

• Fuel suppliers are only required to report on those volumes of gasoline that they have “placed in the Ontario market”
• A transaction between refiners is not considered a sale.
• Each volume should be reported only once; when it is first placed in the Ontario market.
• Terms are further defined in O.Reg. 535/05.

What information are fuel suppliers required to submit to the Ministry?

Fuel suppliers are required to submit:

• an electronic copy of the report (unless the fuel supplier requests a paper copy of the reporting form from the Ministry);
• a signed, printed copy of the report; and
• a list of all of the facilities used to distribute and/or sell gasoline in Ontario.

The electronic version of the report is created by clicking on the “Create Submission” button.  A printed copy of the report can be created by selecting “Create Report” and printing the corresponding text file in any word processing program.

The electronic report and the list of facilities may be sent via e-mail to ethanol-report@ene.gov.on.ca. A confirmation e-mail will be sent once the submission has been received.  Alternatively, these files may be mailed to the Ministry on a cd-rom or other electronic media storage device.  The signed, printed copy of the report should be sent to:

Director, Air Policy and Climate Change Branch
Ministry of the Environment
135 St. Clair Avenue West, 4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M4V 1P5

A submission is required for each compliance year, by March 31st of the following year.

General Reporting Form Instructions

Layout
The reporting form is divided into five screens which can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding tab. The five screens are:

• General
• Compliance
• Transfers
• Optional Deductions
• Declaration

Tooltips
To assist fuel suppliers with the electronic portion of the submission, the reporting form includes a “tooltips” feature.  This feature provides users with a description of each field in the reporting form whenever the user drags their mouse pointer over the field.

Commands
Save Draft – This command saves all of the information entered in General, Compliance, and Transfer screens.  When this command is selected, the user is prompted to enter the filename and location where the draft file will be stored. 

Load Draft – When this command is selected, the user is prompted to enter the filename and location where the draft file was stored using the “Save Draft” command.

The “Create Report” and “Create Submission” commands can only be accessed once a checkmark has been placed in the “I Agree” field on the Declaration screen and all mandatory fields have been filled in (mandatory fields that are blank will be highlighted in orange if the “Create Report” or the “Create Submission” command is selected).

Create Report – This command will create a text file (in rich text format) displaying all of the information contained in the reporting form.  When this command is selected, the user is prompted to enter the filename and location where the text file will be stored.  

Fuel suppliers are required to submit a signed, printed copy of this file to the Ministry.

Create Submission – This command will create an encrypted file containing all of the information filled out in the reporting form. When this command is selected, the user is prompted to enter the filename and location where the encrypted file with the .xls extension will be stored.  Once this file is saved it cannot be reopened and/or modified. 

Fuel suppliers are required to submit a copy of this file to the Ministry.

For more information
To obtain an electronic copy of O. Reg. 535/05, click on the O. Reg. 535/05 hyperlink shown in the bottom right portion of the screen.

To obtain additional information about the regulation from the Ministry’s Ethanol in Gasoline website, click on the For additional information, including guidelines hyperlink shown in the bottom right portion of the screen. 

For additional information on the how to download and install the electronic version of the reporting form, go to: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/ethanol/reporting-form.html

Tab 1: General

Provide sufficient information to identify the fuel supplier, the location where records are kept, and the person who should be contacted, if the Ministry requires further information.

Name of Fuel Supplier: Under O. Reg. 535/05, compliance is applied at the corporate-level, rather than for each facility that a fuel supplier may own/operate. Enter the legal (corporate) name of fuel supplier.  Note that a separate list of facilities used to sell and/or distribute gasoline in Ontario must be appended to the submission.  If the corporate name does not appear on the list, select “OTHER – MANUALLY ENTER NAME”, and manually enter the name in the new field that appears below.

Name of Officer Submitting Report:  Enter the name of the person submitting the report.  If the Ministry of the Environment requires additional information or clarification, this is the person who will be contacted.

Compliance Year for this Report:  Enter the calendar year for which the report is being submitted. For example, when filing for the period January 1, 2007 through December 31st, 2007, enter “2007”.

Address:  Enter the address of the principal place of business where records are kept.

Tab 2: Compliance

Provide sufficient information to: i) calculate the average ethanol content of the gasoline placed in the Ontario market (as defined by O. Reg. 535/05 ) in the compliance year; ii) determine the volume of blendstock used or sold; and iii) determine the proportion of ethanol placed in the Ontario market in the summer months.  Provide values for all parameters.

All volumes should be reported in litres, calculated at standard temperature and pressure (STP).

Enter only positive values. The reporting form will make the appropriate calculations, once the volumes have been entered. 

Compliance is determined using the following formula.  Under the requirements of O. Reg. 535/05, “X” must be equal to or greater than 5.

x = ([C + (C1 × 2.5)] + D – E) / (A + B – F – G) × 100

Where,

The proportion of ethanol placed in the Ontario market in the summer months of the compliance year, is determined by the following formula:

y = (Csummer + C1summer) / (C + C1) × 100

Where,

Additional Instructions

• If cellulosic ethanol is included in the compliance formula, evidence of the origin of this ethanol must be available, on request.  Include only actual volumes of cellulosic ethanol.  The reporting form will calculate the 2.5 incentive automatically. 

• Fuel suppliers may elect to transfer ethanol volumes to the reports of other fuel suppliers.  On request, fuel suppliers may be required to provide information documenting the amount of ethanol transferred.

• Ethanol placed in the Ontario market must meet the quality standards specified in O.Reg. 535/05. 
  

Tab 3:  Transfers

Under O. Reg. 535/05, fuel suppliers are permitted to transfer surplus compliance volumes to other fuel suppliers. Provide sufficient information to calculate the volumes of ethanol that have been transferred to and/or from the records of other fuel suppliers.

“From Other Fuel Suppliers”:
Enter the total volume of ethanol transferred from the records of other fuel suppliers within the same compliance year. Where multiple transfers have occurred with the same fuel supplier, enter the net volume transferred from that fuel supplier (i.e., only one entry is permitted for each fuel supplier).  If the name of fuel supplier does not appear on the list, select “OTHER – MANUALLY ENTER NAME” and enter the name of the fuel supplier in the new field.

“To Other Fuel Suppliers”:
Enter the total volume of ethanol transferred to the records of other fuel suppliers within the same compliance year. Where multiple transfers have occurred with the same fuel supplier, enter the net volume transferred to that fuel supplier (i.e., only one entry is permitted for each fuel supplier). If the name of fuel supplier does not appear on the list, select “OTHER – MANUALLY ENTER NAME” and enter the name of the fuel supplier in the new field.

Tab 4:  Optional Deductions

Under O. Reg 535/05, fuel suppliers who elect to deduct compliance volumes are required to provide statements to that effect.
     
Northern Ontario Deduction: (if applicable) The volume of ethanol-blended gasolines and non-ethanol-blended gasolines distributed from or sold in northern Ontario in the compliance year, in the case of the compliance years 2007, 2008 and 2009, as defined by O. Reg 535/05.  Note that the area defined as ‘northern Ontario’ under O. Reg. 535/05 is different than the definition used in Ontario’s Gasoline Volatility regulation (O. Reg. 271/91

End-Use Deduction: (if applicable) The volume of ethanol-blended gasolines and non-ethanol-blended gasolines placed in the Ontario market (as defined by O. Reg. 535/05) in the compliance year for the purposes of generating power in aircraft, marine vessels or equipment, off-road vehicles or equipment, or vehicles manufactured prior to 1980.

Tab 5:  Declarations

Provide sufficient information to determine the accuracy of the report.

Check the appropriate response  concerning:

• Confirmation that  the ethanol-blended gasoline sold in Ontario meets the quality standards set out in O. Reg. 535/05;
• availability of documentation for transactions used to calculate “D” and/or “E” (i.e., transfers);
• availability of documentation for gasoline volumes sold and/or distributed in Northern Ontario;
• availability of documentation for gasoline volumes placed in the Ontario market for special end-uses allowed under O. Reg. 535/05; and
• accuracy of information contained in the report.