BC Hydro’s Energy Wise Network provides coaching, funding and resources to engage your employees in energy management and uncover savings.
What is the Energy Wise Network?
If you've ever wondered how to motivate your employees to save energy at work, our Energy Wise Network is here to help. Partnering with Fortis BC, BC Hydro has built a community that's passionate about sustainability and helping others save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions(GHGs), and implement sustainable practices.
We caught up with Energy Wise Network program manager, Jay Lee, to find out more: "The Energy Wise Network is all about changing behaviour. We work with organizations as part of the overarching Strategic Energy Management program, helping them engage their employees to increase energy-saving behaviour."
"Our consultant partners specialize in behaviour change, engagement, and change management. They teach participants a framework for identifying a campaign to target the right audience, and the communication options to spread messaging," says Jay. "And by the end of the program year, each customer will have run an entire campaign on a specific aspect of energy management."
Over the years, there have been some common beginner campaign themes like turning off computer monitors, shutting blinds or turning off lights. But for the experienced participants, the campaigns have become a lot more specialized. "We're now seeing more advanced initiatives like developing procurement policies with energy efficiency as an evaluation criteria for everything from heat pumps to printer paper," says Jay. "We also have colleges and universities running campus-wide contests where student residence buildings compete to reduce the most amount of energy over a set period. It’s really evolved beyond just a simple 'turn off this, turn off that' campaign towards actively spreading a message of energy efficiency, gamifying a lot of the aspects of energy management and developing long-lasting training materials."
Another impactful benefit of the Energy Wise Network is the cultural shift it creates. As employees and students start to generate sustainable habits, that momentum spreads across the organization, creating a ripple effect that lasts well beyond a single campaign. Here's just one of many enthusiastic customer comments: "The Energy Wise Network has provided us with great ideas to bring back to our organization that has seen an increase in participation and tangible energy results."
Measuring success
Jay measures the Energy Wise Network's success each year with several metrics including increased participation and the amount of energy saved. "Energy management in the workplace is still not as common as it should be. Many people are more mindful of energy use at home than at work, which means there’s significant opportunity for improvement," says Jay. "That's the behavioural shift that the Energy Wise Network helps to support. We’re also keen to know how much energy participants are saving as a result of the program."
Choose from a range of coaching and funding options
The program offers two training events during the program year, along with webinars, campaign toolkits and supplemental resources. These events also offer opportunities to network with like-minded energy savers. "We've built a very strong community over the years, with some customers participating for almost a decade," says Jay.
To help you keep campaign momentum going between events, you can choose one of three coaching and incentive funding options:
- 20 hours of coaching: Connect with our sustainability engagement experts for 20 hours of personalized coaching to help guide you through the seven-step campaign planning framework.
- 15 hours of coaching and $600 funding: 15 hours of coaching plus $600 in funding to help cover campaign expenses like graphic design, printing, prizes, and event costs.
- 10 hours of coaching and $1,200 funding: 10 hours of coaching and funding up to $1,200 to help cover campaign expenses.
"You probably want to start off with 20 hours of coaching to help you narrow down what type of campaign you want to run and how you want to target people," says Jay. "And then once you have some experience, you can move on to the other two options in subsequent years. The funding is for anything related to employee engagement, like prizes or food for a lunch and learn."
Could the Energy Wise Network help you?
The Energy Wise Network is open to all large BC Hydro and FortisBC commercial customers. If your organization uses 2 gigawatt-hours of electricity or 30,000 gigajoules of gas annually across all your sites and you like helping others save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and implement sustainable practices, we’d love to hear from you.
"The program runs from April 1 to March 31 each year," says Jay. "Running a campaign and bringing awareness to energy management is a lighter workload than implementing a capital project, but the potential savings you generate could be quite significant."
Find out more about the Energy Wise Network at bchydro.com. And if you'd like to join this year's program, don't forget to submit your application form by March 20, 2026.