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VICTORIA – The provincial government and BC Hydro have entered into a new Public Sector Energy Conservation Agreement to significantly decrease electricity consumption across more than 6,500 public sector buildings, Premier Gordon Campbell and BC Hydro president and CEO Bob Elton announced today.

"The new agreement shows our government's commitment to energy conservation," Campbell said. "It includes bold new public sector conservation targets, capital investments in making government buildings across the province more energy efficient, and a campaign to build a conservation culture within the public service."

The agreement sets ambitious conservation goals – reducing electricity consumption in existing provincial buildings by five per cent from the 2006 baseline by 2011, 14 per cent by 2016, and 20 per cent by 2020. The agreement will be in effect from 2008 through 2020 and applies to provincial government office buildings, Crown corporations, schools, universities, colleges, hospitals and social housing. Reducing electricity use in existing buildings by 20 per cent means that the Province is going beyond the B.C. Energy Plan's ambitious target to acquire 50 per cent of BC Hydro's future incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020. Through the agreement, 65 per cent of the public sector's future incremental power needs will be met by the Province through conservation.

"Conservation is the first and best way to meet British Columbia's energy needs," Campbell said. "It's part of our plan to lead the way to meeting our BC Energy Plan goals and helping deal with the global problem of climate change."

"This agreement makes the Province of B.C. one of BC Hydro's largest Power Smart partners," Elton said. "The Public Sector Conservation Agreement demonstrates how we can all make a difference to help reach our goal of meeting half of the province's future electricity needs through conservation."

The Public Sector Conservation Agreement includes:

• Provincial investments in energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits in government buildings.
• Implementation of energy conservation projects across the public sector, and promotion of technology innovation at public sector buildings.
• An employee engagement component to encourage government employees to be energy conservation leaders at work and at home.

Approximately $200 million will be invested in new technology, energy innovation and retrofits over the next 12 years. Those upgrades will result in at least $250 million worth of energy savings over the life time of the upgrades. It's estimated that by 2020, the agreement will result in a net savings of 342 gigawatt hours of electricity annually – enough to power 34,200 households. Cumulative energy savings between 2008 and 2020 will be more than 2,100 gigawatt hours.

Contact:

Gillian Robinson Riddell

Media Relations

Phone: 604 623-4022

gillian.robinson@bchydro.com