Standard 211 defines what a commercial building energy audit must contain at each of three levels. This page explains what each one involves, and — the part most guides skip — which level the Canadian programs you are applying to will actually accept.
Before ANSI/ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 211, "energy audit" meant whatever the person selling it wanted it to mean. A walk-through with a clipboard and a twelve-week engineering study were both called audits, and a building owner had no way to compare two quotes.
The standard fixed that. It defines the minimum scope, the analysis method and the report outline at each level. That matters to you for three practical reasons.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Find out where you stand | Decide what to fund | Commit capital with confidence |
| Typical duration | 2–4 weeks | 4–8 weeks | 8–16 weeks |
| Site work | Walk-through | System-by-system survey | Survey plus measurement and logging |
| Analysis | Utility bills, benchmarking | End-use breakdown | Calibrated energy model |
| Cost estimates | Order of magnitude | Costed measures with payback | Engineering grade |
| Supports incentives? | Rarely | Yes — most programs | Yes |
If you need a number for a budget request, Level 1. If you need to decide which projects to fund and apply for incentives, Level 2 — this is what most Canadian buildings need. If you are signing a contract where the savings are guaranteed, Level 3.
A Level 1 audit establishes your baseline and finds the obvious opportunities. We analyse 24 to 36 months of utility data, benchmark the building against comparable facilities, and walk the site with a licensed auditor.
The output identifies low-cost and no-cost measures — usually control adjustments, scheduling and maintenance items — with order-of-magnitude savings, plus a list of capital measures worth investigating further.
Choose Level 1 when you own several buildings and need to know which to look at first, when you need a defensible number for a budget submission, or when you suspect a problem but cannot name it.
What it will not do: support an incentive application requiring detailed savings calculations, or give you cost estimates you can build a capital plan on.
This is the audit most buildings need and the one most Canadian incentive programs are built around.
A Level 2 audit surveys each major system in turn — building envelope, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, domestic hot water, lighting, controls, and process loads where they exist. We break consumption down by end use, so you can see where the energy actually goes rather than inferring it from a single utility bill.
Every recommended measure comes with an installed cost estimate, annual energy and cost savings, simple payback, and the incentive available against it. A measurement and verification plan is included, because most funding programs require savings to be confirmed after the work is done.
Choose Level 2 when you are applying to Save on Energy's Retrofit Program, an Enbridge commercial custom project or a provincial equivalent; when you are building a multi-year capital plan; or when a lender or your board has asked for costed options rather than ideas.
A Level 3 audit is what you commission when the decision is large enough that an estimate is not good enough.
It includes everything in a Level 2, plus field measurement and data logging on major systems, and a calibrated energy model — built in eQUEST or EnergyPlus and tuned until it reproduces your building's actual metered consumption. Because the model is calibrated, savings projections carry far less uncertainty, which is what makes them financeable.
Interactive effects between measures are modelled rather than assumed. That matters because efficiency measures affect each other: improve the envelope and the savings from a heating upgrade change.
Choose Level 3 when you are entering a performance contract with guaranteed savings, financing a deep retrofit, pursuing a specific carbon reduction target, or making a capital commitment where being wrong is expensive.
This is where a Canadian audit provider matters more than an international one.
| Program | Typical level required | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Save on Energy Retrofit — Custom | Level 2 minimum | Detailed savings calculations and M&V required. Pre-approval before work starts. |
| Enbridge commercial custom | Level 2 minimum | Assessment must be pre-approved. Eligibility thresholds apply. |
| Efficiency Manitoba | Level 2 or 3 | Reports must conform to the Standard 211 report outlines. |
| Canada Infrastructure Bank | Level 3 in practice | Minimum 30% GHG reduction per building, verified savings. |
| BOMA Enspire | Program-specific | Deep retrofit assessment. We are a certified Service Provider. |
Most custom incentive programs will not fund work that has already started. Incentive pre-approval can add several weeks before the audit begins. If you have a deadline, start earlier than feels necessary.
Standard 211 defines the procedure; it does not licence the person. In Canadian practice, buyers and programs look for a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) or Certified Energy Auditor (CEA), and for larger or publicly tendered work, a Professional Engineer on the team. Public tenders frequently make one of these a mandatory requirement rather than a preference.
EnerSolution's commercial team holds these credentials, and we operate as a Natural Resources Canada Registered Service Organization — a federal registration carrying file quality assurance and review obligations.
Fee depends on the level, the building's size and complexity, and how much data already exists. That last point is the one owners underestimate: a building with 24 months of utility data, drawings and an equipment list costs materially less to audit than one without. We quote a fixed fee after a short scoping conversation, with no hourly billing.
Roughly 2–4 weeks for Level 1, 4–8 weeks for Level 2 and 8–16 weeks for Level 3, from the point data is available. Incentive pre-approval, where required, runs before that.
No. Site work is observation, inspection and measurement. Data logging equipment is installed and left in place. Nothing is shut down.
Usually yes, and often for a better reason than you think. Incentive levels, energy prices and carbon regulations have all changed substantially since 2024. Measures that failed a payback test three years ago frequently pass today. A previous audit also makes the new one cheaper, because the baseline work is already done — send it to us.
Yes. For portfolios we normally recommend Level 1 across all buildings to establish which ones deserve attention, then Level 2 on the buildings that justify it. Auditing twenty buildings to Level 2 when three of them hold most of the opportunity is a waste of money.
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A compliance deadline, an incentive application, a financing requirement, or a capital plan. Tell us which, and we will tell you what you need and what it will cost — as a fixed fee, before any work starts.
If you do not need an audit, we will say so.