Electricity Conservation

The EC&E continues to advocate for energy efficiency and conservation initiatives that influence change at the market and societal levels, as well as customer-by-customer. In 2010, in addition to substantive informal advice provided to BC Hydro, the Committee submitted formal recommendations to BC Hydro on a range of issues connected to energy efficiency and conservation:

• Removing the barriers that are currently preventing tenants, developers and property owners from installing energy-saving measures and adopting such innovative ideas as Green Leases, which promote shared tenant/landlord responsibility for reducing energy consumption.
• Examining the role of rates in reducing electricity consumption in British Columbia over the next 20 years.
• Ensuring that the government's Green Energy Advisory Task Force makes cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation the top priority for meeting new electricity demand.

Over the next year, the EC&E is expected to provide further advice to BC Hydro on key energy conservation and efficiency issues. The EC&E will provide input on the demand side management options for BC Hydro's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). In addition, the Committee will look at how municipal policies and bylaws can be used to increase energy conservation and efficiency; identify and assess opportunities for BC Hydro to expand or modify its collaboration with partners to leverage its DSM efforts and to build the capacity of B.C.'s workforce to achieve energy efficiency and conservation.

BC Hydro established the EC&E in 2006 to provide ideas, input and advice on how to meet our long-term conservation goals, which include: the ambitious target set by government in the Clean Energy Act to meet at least 66 per cent of future load growth through conservation and energy efficiency by 2020 and creating a sustainable energy future in British Columbia by fostering an energy conservation and efficiency culture. The 24-member Committee includes stakeholders and First Nations from across the province.

Here's what the Committee had to say about the work they have undertaken in 2010.

"The Clean Energy Act introduces a host of big changes – some good, some bad – to the way energy issues are dealt with in B.C. The Integrated Resource Plan, required by the Act, is an opportunity for BC Hydro to show how much progress it has made on energy efficiency and conservation compared to previous planning processes."
Matt Horne, The Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development

"I believe BC Hydro is engaging with the EC&E Committee in a really meaningful way. I think there's been an excellent effort to involve the Committee early on, before key decisions are made, and to try to incorporate both our high-level ideas and our specific, detailed advice. This is exemplified by the fact that BC Hydro has adopted the vision we articulated for individual, market and societal level transformation, and now it's part of the business of Power Smart."
Andrew Pape-Salmon, B.C. Ministry of Energy

"We have developed a framework to manage the ratepayer risk when BC Hydro invests in conservation projects within industrial plants. Although industrial DSM projects are typically the most cost effective by far, they also carry the greatest risk – particularly in light of the recent challenges all export industries have faced in the province. No one wants to invest in a facility only to have it shut down a short time later, or invest in a project that does not deliver the savings that were promised. Power Smart has now developed a model that evaluates a group of projects so that success is judged by how the group performs and spreads the risk over a number of different projects in different facilities."
Carlo Dal Monte, Catalyst Paper

"I commend BC Hydro for its active efforts to maintain a relationship with First Nations in B.C. and inviting First Nation individuals to participate on advisory committees such as the EC&E Advisory Committee. This provides opportunities for First Nations to interact with stakeholders and for them to better understand both First Nations Aboriginal Rights and Title and the negotiation process between First Nations, B.C. and Canada to reconcile differences. It is my experience with the EC&E Committee that the stakeholders now take First Nations into consideration when they are developing recommendations for BC Hydro, and continue to support First Nations’ interests in the energy conservation and efficiency development."
Dan Smith, First Nations Summit

"This year the EC&E Committee started to grapple more directly with how the kinds of recommendations we have been making could be implemented within BC Hydro. We have started some useful discussions about this. In the end, the test of the EC&E's value will be whether the work we are doing will affect, in concrete and fruitful ways, the ongoing planning and implementation activities of BC Hydro."
John Robinson, University of British Columbia

"Concern about the Site C dam prompted me to join the EC&E Committee. Living in Fort St. John introduced me to the majestic beauty of the Peace River Valley and I was distressed to learn about it being flooded and passionate to spread the word about this agricultural, historical and natural gem. My desire was to bring a voice in support of energy conservation and increasing energy efficiency instead of creating new power generation. As a residential customer, I think I offer insight into what everyday people want to know about how to use less electricity."
Chandra Wong, BC Hydro Residential Customer