Thank you.
First, I'd like to thank you all for inviting us here. We're very happy to come and talk to you about some of the great innovative programs and initiatives Hydro is working on that we believe support the sustainable municipalities program and initiative.
Three of the key take-aways I'd like you to take from this is that we have found that communities are starting to take a leadership role in matters relating to energy. They've become more interested, and I think what we're seeing is a rise in that. Customers want to be involved in energy decisions; they want to look at how energy is going to impact their land use planning, their economic development, and future growth opportunities.
One of the ways Hydro sees an opportunity to assist them is by adding technical support and some small-scale funding at the study level. Second, integration and coordination of policy programs and funding is extremely important. If we can leverage the funds together, we can create more win-win opportunities and we can create more projects. Third, we need to get more practical solutions built and done. I know there's probably going to be some discussion of Dockside Green. I'm going to let that ensue as we move forward, but that's an example of a real, practical project that could work.
The first slide is who we are. I'm going to go through that quite quickly.
I think what is useful for you to know is that we are a crown corporation. We are the third largest utility. We are primarily hydroelectric power. We have met and have slightly exceeded a 90% clean renewable target. We have a very aggressive Power Smart program that I think is the envy of some of our fellow utilities. Finally, we have some of the lowest electricity rates in Canada, which is both a blessing and a curse sometimes when you're trying to get other projects built.
The next slide is looking at the sustainable communities. This is Quest's model, but B.C. Hydro shares this vision of what a future community could look like, and that is looking at a community that has an integrated energy system and local supply options.
As I've said before, customers are not just becoming more interested in the land use planning and the infrastructure side of their business, but they're looking at energy as a way to create additional revenue streams, plan around their communities, and drive and understand future needs and demands.
The next slide lets you know what the backdrop is in B.C. We have a very progressive energy plan that came in in 2007. It's relevant to B.C. Hydro because for the first time it gave us a 50% conservation target and a goal to be self-sufficient by 2016. It also gave us the 90% clean target. All of those have led us to develop and advance some of the programs we're currently involved with. It's important context.
I think what's also interesting is that the province has come forward with an innovative clean energy fund, or the ICE fund as we call it, which is geared to renewable energy projects and sustainable municipal opportunities as well.
We also have an aggressive climate change charter. B.C. Hydro is looking to become carbon neutral by 2020 and we are to be net zero emissions by 2020. Again, although we're largely hydroelectric, a proportion of our system is made up of natural gas, but it's aging natural gas so it's not state of the art.
When we look at our future needs, Hydro has sectioned this off into three components.
First, we will seek cost-effective and practical conservation.
Second, we have been instructed by our provincial government and through the energy plan to buy more through the private sector. That means independent power producers, first nations, or municipalities and communities.
Finally, we will build more. We will look at our existing facilities, existing hydroelectric dams, and we will look to add to those. One example of that is our Revelstoke facility in northern B.C., where we've added two more turbine units. That gives additional capacity on an existing footprint.