Power Smart Strategy

Power Smart has launched a multi-initiative effort to increase leadership on electricity conservation and efficiency and Power Smart's visibility and engagement in B.C. The 2007 BC Energy Plan also sets an ambitious but achievable target for BC Hydro to acquire 50 per cent of its incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020.

The corporate leadership initiative will showcase business customers that are leaders in energy conservation. In March 2007, Power Smart launched outdoor and print advertisements featuring the University of British Columbia, VanCity, Vancouver International Airport and Hudson's Bay Company. Additional print advertisements will showcase the latest winners of the Power Smart Excellence Awards. The community initiative will engage municipal government staff and residents throughout B.C., via the Turn it Off Challenge launched in April 2007 to encourage municipalities to save electricity in municipal buildings and facilities through behaviour changes. The leadership initiative will engage high profile spokespeople to raise the profile of Power Smart and the need for electricity conservation.

The social initiative will engage the lower-income sector. Power Smart has formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to save electricity in their new developments. The first project to launch is in Burnaby with a Power Smart Gold certified low-income residential development. Future projects are located in Courtenay, Sidney and Victoria. Finally, the government initiative will target provincial government buildings. Energy audits of the B.C. Legislature and Jack Davis buildings were recently completed.

Demand-Side Management

GWh/year

Demand-Side Management is defined as the rate at which annual gigawatt hours (GWh) are being saved as a result of economic demand-side management conservation, energy efficiency and load displacement) since fiscal 2002.

Fiscal 2007 performance is marginally higher than target. Slightly higher GWh savings achieved in the Industrial and Residential sectors partially offset by slightly lower GWh savings in the Commercial sector. No benchmark data is available. Targets are developed and results are compared based on past performance.

Targets are developed and results are compared based on past performance.

Customer Electricity Intensity

Kilowatt-Hour/Account/Year

	F2004	F2005	F2006	F2007
Residential	10,945	10,610	10,842	11,049

Residential electricity intensity is calculated by dividing consumption in the residential sector by the average number of residential accounts over the fiscal year. Actual billed use per account for fiscal 2007 was 11,049 kWh/account, which was 128 kWh/account or 1.17 per cent above forecast, and 207 kWh/account or 1.91 per cent above the actual billed use per account in fiscal 2006. Use per account is rising mainly due to increased penetration levels of plug-in load such as computers and home entertainment equipment.

Conservation Research Initiative

The Conservation Research Initiative is a 12-month pilot program involving 2,000 participants that began on November 1, 2006. The program helps customers to conserve energy and use it more efficiently through the use of smart meters in their homes to track their electricity consumption. The pilot helped us to gather information through focus group and employee sessions, and engage groups that represent different rate classes. The information gained will be used by other groups looking at BC Hydro's long-term rate strategy and conservation goals to help address the gap between electricity supply and demand.

The results of this project will also help us to roll out our smart metering initiative. This initiative proposes replacing 1.7 million meters at customer sites with 'smart meters' and adding 130,000 advanced feeder/transformer meters across our distribution system, while incorporating the principles of the 2007 BC Energy Plan.

Conservation Awards

In May 2006, BC Hydro Power Smart was awarded the ENERGY STAR™ Award for Sustained Excellence at the ENERGY STAR Market Transformation Awards in Toronto. Hosted by the Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) Office of Energy Efficiency, the Awards recognized organizations that surpassed the competition in offering consumers the most energy-efficient product, technology or service available.

BC Hydro was recognized for our commitment to continually increase the market adoption of ENERGY STAR products and our energy conservation achievements over the past 15 years through Power Smart. ENERGY STAR is an internationally recognized symbol that identifies the most energy-efficient products.

Power Smart also received a silver medal from Marketing Magazine for the 2006 seasonal light-emitting diode (LED) light campaign in the Public Service Campaign - Print/Out of Home/Outdoor category.

Power Smart Leadership

The Power Smart Leader designation is granted to organizations that demonstrate exceptional energy efficiency leadership within their industry. BC Hydro aims to join the list of these companies who are Power Smart Leaders: the Hudson's Bay Company, Kwantlen University, the University of British Columbia, Abbotsford School District 34, Canadian Autoparts Toyota Inc., the City of Richmond, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, VanCity, and the Vancouver International Airport. Each year Power Smart will recognize, and add to the listing of Power Smart Leaders by recognizing those organizations that receive a Power Smart Excellence Award.

This year, BC Hydro established the Lead by Example group within Power Smart, with the goal of making BC Hydro a leader within the province in implementing processes, programs and technologies that conserve energy in a cost effective manner. Lead by Example activities already underway include:

• A cross-company employee committee that engages employees to make energy conservation part of their everyday business.
• A lighting and HVAC upgrade program in BC hydro's generating facilities. In fiscal 2007, the GM Shrum and Peace Canyon plants were retrofitted with an estimated savings of 1 GWh/year. Several more facilities are scheduled for retrofitting next year and will add another 2 GWh/year of savings.
• Voltage control system upgrades were completed at three substations on Vancouver Island resulting in 16.5 GWh/year energy savings.

Power Smart Business Programs

The Power Smart Partners Program for large industrial customers moved from the pilot phase to full implementation this year. There were changes to the program made to complement a new conservation rate.

In order to capture more challenging and costly energy efficiency opportunities, Power Smart recently launched two pilot programs to test new approaches to conservation. A tiered incentive pilot under the Power Smart Partners program will offer incentives of 2.5 and 3.5 cents/kWh, rather than the standard 1.5 cents/kWh, to eligible projects with deeper savings and longer paybacks from Power Smart leaders.

In May 2006, Power Smart presented awards to 19 customers and trade allies at the Power Smart Excellence Awards forum and dinner. Companies that received awards included Canadian Tire, Richmond Home Hardware, Vancouver Wharves and Whistler Blackcomb.

Power Smart Residential Programs

Power Smart's Fall Lighting Campaign ran from October to December 2006 and featured rebates on new, energy-efficient ENERGY STAR™ light fixtures, lamps and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

Customers participated in Power Smart lighting events at local retailers and received instant rebates on the purchase of ENERGY STAR lighting fixtures and ENERGY STAR CFLs.

In March 2007, Power Smart launched an energy efficient computer power supplies (80 Plus) initiative under the Product Incentive Program. The program is intended to encourage manufacturers to improve energy efficiency of computers and servers by installing highly efficient power supplies and offering incentives to manufacturers.

Power Smart Students Programs

BC Hydro's Power Smart Students Program educates the consumers of tomorrow on the value and benefit of energy conservation and sustainability. The School Campaigns and Movie-Making program (Grades 4 to 7), and Energy Reviews program (Grades 10 to 12) help to build a conservation culture by encouraging students to take action in their schools. The program is also part of our commitment to contribute to the communities in which we live and work

In fiscal 2007 Power Smart Students program workshops were delivered in 39 school districts across British Columbia. Over 350 schools participated in the program with over 45,000 students receiving the energy conservation and sustainability messages. In the Power Smart Students Energy Reviews program, students made presentations outlining potential energy conservation opportunities within the schools to 18 school district Boards of Trustees. The student presentations motivated specific school districts to consider undertaking energy efficiency-related projects, of which many received funding and approval.

Working with Developers and Government

In March 2007, Power Smart announced its support for Dockside Green, a green multi-family residential project in Victoria that uses a triple-bottom line approach to development. The project is being developed on fifteen acres of former industrial land, with a mix of residential, office, retail and industrial space. Dockside Green aims to be an ecologically-restorative community, and represents the biggest development of city land in Victoria's history.

In February 2007, the B.C. Government's budget narrowed the PST exemption from all windows to include only energy efficient windows. This is one example of a Power Smart program working in conjunction with tax policy and regulation to transform a market to energy efficiency. Power Smart also developed a revised and more aggressive strategy to support government energy efficiency policy at the federal, provincial and municipal levels through policies like the 2007 BC Energy Plan.

The Power Smart New Home program has signed Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) with builders to construct 1,450 Power Smart Gold residential units before December 2007. This is just shy of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources target of 1,500 units and will lead to substantially increased program exposure as these homes are showcased in coming months.