Natural Gas Facilities Applications Performance Standards Review

This consultation has concluded.


The OEB has initiated a review of its current performance standards for natural gas facilities applications, specifically:

  • Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (Certificates)
  • Municipal Franchise Agreements (Franchises)
  • Storage
  • Well Drilling

The OEB is proposing to update these standards and invites interested stakeholders to participate in a meeting during which proposed updates to these standards will be discussed.

The review supports the OEB’s commitment to modernize, promote accountability and provide greater certainty for regulated entities and stakeholders in terms of application processing timelines.

This work will complete the refresh of the performance standards for applications that commenced with an update to the Rates standards in 2019, the Leave to Construct standards in 2021, and the natural gas QRAM standards earlier this year.





The OEB has initiated a review of its current performance standards for natural gas facilities applications, specifically:

  • Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (Certificates)
  • Municipal Franchise Agreements (Franchises)
  • Storage
  • Well Drilling

The OEB is proposing to update these standards and invites interested stakeholders to participate in a meeting during which proposed updates to these standards will be discussed.

The review supports the OEB’s commitment to modernize, promote accountability and provide greater certainty for regulated entities and stakeholders in terms of application processing timelines.

This work will complete the refresh of the performance standards for applications that commenced with an update to the Rates standards in 2019, the Leave to Construct standards in 2021, and the natural gas QRAM standards earlier this year.





This consultation has concluded.


  • OEB updates performance standards for natural gas facilities applications

    The OEB has concluded the review of its current performance standards for natural gas facilities applications, and today issued updated standards that will apply to those applications filed on or after April 1, 2024.

    The current performance standards are determined by hearing type (i.e. oral vs. written ). An analysis of past applications identified that application complexity influences the time required for review and processing and this is not necessarily related to the type of hearing.

    Accordingly, the OEB is updating these performance standards to establish a “complex” standard for complex applications and a “short-form” standard for straightforward applications. This approach of having complex and short-form performance standards is consistent with the performance standards established for other types of applications, (updates to Rates standards in 2019, Leave to Construct standards in 2021, and natural gas Quarterly Rate Adjustment Mechanism standards in early 2023).

    Current and Updated Performance Standards





  • Performance standards for natural gas facilities applications

    Performance standards outline the typical procedural steps associated with processing a particular type of application and the expected number of calendar days for each step. The total cycle time represents the calendar days from the OEB’s issuance of an application “completeness” letter to a final decision.

    The current and proposed performance standards for each natural gas facilities application are shown below: