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September 19, 2008
Power Smart really wants you to buy less of our product
Posted by Rob Klovance
Life as a BC Hydro employee is strangely rewarding, and sometimes, just plain strange.
Here we are working for a company that produces electricity and yet is preoccupied with getting people to reduce consumption. Simply put, we want you to buy less of our product.
Huh?
Yes, the not-so-bright lights at Team Power Smart really, really want you to cut your electricity consumption by 10% over a year. To help get you on the team and working toward that goal, they're offering prizes such as tickets to the 2010 Olympics. And for the average customer, there are significant savings as well – 10% works out to annual savings of nearly 1,100 kilowatt hours, about $70 per year.
The 10% target has apparently hit home with the guy in the cubicle beside me. For the last two days he has arrived at work bed-headed and unshaven, suspiciously like someone who’s skipping showers and unplugging his razor to cut electricity. I’m not buying his explanation – that they’ve shut off the hot water in his downtown Vancouver building for three days and that his 15-second cold showers don’t include shampoo.
I’ve told him there are easier ways to save energy: replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs, lowering the thermostat and wearing a long-sleeved shirt instead of his Bon Jovi tank. Stuff like that. But he doesn’t appear to be listening, so I have a plan.
I’m changing the default homepage setting on his work PC to bchydro.com’s new Green Your Home page. He’ll be reminded about the 10% goal and he’ll have dozens of tips to help him achieve it. He’ll even find links to a Buyer’s Guide that can help him find the right energy-saving products and a Resources Guide that can help him answer all his tough questions.
It’s all there. We challenge you to save 10%, then we make it easy for you by giving away all the secrets.
Again. It’s a strange place here at BC Hydro, the land where people turn off lights before leaving the kitchen, drink tap water instead of bottled water and encourage customers to not buy our product.
Rob Klovance is managing editor of bchydro.com and, as a Team Power Smart member, ready to do just about anything – except taking cold showers – to make that 10% target.
Source: BC Hydro
