EC&E Advisory Committee Releases 2009 Annual Report

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2009 was the Electricity Conservation & Efficiency (EC&E) Advisory Committee's third full year of operation, and was marked by significant progress in its overall goal of generating constructive, effective and innovative ideas that will help inspire a comprehensive culture of conservation across British Columbia. These accomplishments are detailed in the Committee's 2009 Annual Report [PDF, 312 Kb].

BC Hydro has already begun to move ahead with the majority of the formal recommendations put forward by the Committee, including:

• Taking steps to develop a societal or community-level strategy to encourage changes across B.C. society to make electricity conservation more acceptable than electricity consumption; and
• Offering programs and initiatives that encourage conservation at all three levels identified in the Strategic Framework: individual, market and societal.

The Committee also provided BC Hydro with advice on a range of critical topics, including how to most effectively:

• Revise the current Large General Service rate structure to encourage greater conservation while minimizing the impact of rate increases on business customers;
• Structure BC Hydro's incentives for large industrial customers, such as pulp and paper mills, sawmills, mines and chemical plants, to reduce the risk and encourage the implementation of major energy-efficiency upgrades; and
• Develop a Distributed Generation strategy that will help B.C. communities move towards the goal of being net-zero – capable of producing as much energy as they consume.

Throughout 2009, the Committee also continued to identify and develop the best ideas for a stronger market for electricity conservation by encouraging private sector investment in energy-efficiency projects; for removing the barriers that are currently preventing developers and property owners from installing energy-saving measures; and for changing government policy to more actively support electricity conservation and efficiency.

A diverse range of perspectives and expertise

BC Hydro established the EC&E in 2006 to help develop more effective ways of addressing two key challenges:

• The rapidly increasing demand for electricity; and
• The goal set by the provincial government in the 2007 BC Energy Plan for BC Hydro to acquire at least 50% of our incremental resource needs through electricity conservation and efficiency by 2020. Under the new Clean Energy Act announced on April 28, 2010, this goal has now increased to 66%.

The 24-member committee includes stakeholders and First Nations from across the province.

Here's what they had to say about the work they've undertaken over the past year:

"Over the last year we've been trying to shift from the theoretical to the tangible, to a more hands-on kind of thinking to help BC Hydro be more effective in pursuing energy efficiency and conservation. By achieving tangible successes in the short-term, we'll get Committee members, BC Hydro, and the public excited about the possibilities for energy conservation and motivated to explore and implement more ideas."
Matt Horne, Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development

"It's time for BC Hydro to take the recommendations contained in the Strategic Framework – which the EC&E Advisory Committee researched and developed in 2007 and BC Hydro reviewed and accepted in 2008 – and make them happen. Change at this level is not easy. It requires significant investment of time, effort and money. But it is necessary if B.C. is to meet its sustainability goals. BC Hydro needs to change internally and become a catalyst for change across all sectors – government, industry, business – if we're to succeed."
John Robinson, University of British Columbia, Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability

"I believe BC Hydro is on the right track in engaging stakeholders and First Nations, and I believe we have made progress through the EC&E Advisory Committee. I am learning how BC Hydro and the Province of British Columbia define conservation – we must conserve the energy we have –and they are learning how the 203 First Nations of British Columbia view conservation as holistic and connected. If everyone, from governments to communities, conserves energy in the right way, we will have the time and opportunity to explore ways we can sustain both the environment and the energy supply. They also now better understand the rights and title BC First Nations hold to the land and resources, and that there must be both consultation and accommodation."
Dan Smith, First Nations Summit

"Catalyst is the largest consumer of BC Hydro electricity in the province, so it makes sense for me to sit on the EC&E Advisory Committee and provide the perspective of the large industrial power consumer. While we, the large industrials, are arguably the most cost-effective places to get the most energy savings, we're also very sensitive both to electricity rates and to the risk of investing in energy-efficiency projects. Through the committee, though, we're now starting to develop what I think are concrete strategies to deal with the spectrum of risk for large industrials, such as supporting a suite of projects at one facility or looking at one project at multiple facilities."
Carlo Dal Monte, Catalyst Paper and the Joint Industry Electricity Steering Committee

"The challenge for the Split Incentives Working Group is to make sure the people who spend the money get the benefits – and it's just not the case right now. In the commercial sector, it's the building owners who put out the money to become more energy efficient, but it's the tenants who get the benefits of lower energy bills. We believe Green Leases are the way to go, because they bridge the difference: owners are able to recover the cost of their investments and modernize their buildings, while tenants still benefit from a more energy-efficient space. In today's market, we believe it's what the more sophisticated commercial tenants are looking for. They want sustainability and that includes energy conservation and efficiency."
Len Horvath, Building Owners and Managers Association of BC

"One of the easiest ways to achieve positive change in a short period is through local government and this year, through the Government Policy Enablers Working Group, we've made great progress in identifying and narrowing down the best ideas for local action. Nothing's simple, though, because the capacity to make changes varies from community to community. What may be possible for a large, urban centre – such as being able to finance solar-assisted traffic lights – may not be practical for a smaller community. But the possibilities are definitely there."
Noreen Guenther, Councillor, District of Lake Country, BC