Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the members of the committee for inviting CEA to appear before you this afternoon.
I am Francis Bradley, the chief operating officer of CEA.
I am joined this morning by my colleague Sarah Nolan, and I am also delighted to be appearing along with my colleagues from QUEST. CEA was one of the organizations that created QUEST close to a dozen years ago, and I have been a participant in it since its founding.
I first want to take a moment to talk about our association. The Canadian Electricity Association, or CEA, is the national voice and forum for the Canadian electricity sector. Our membership is comprised of generation, transmission and distribution companies from across Canada, as well as manufacturers, technology companies and consulting firms representing the full spectrum of electricity suppliers.
A safe, secure, reliable, sustainable and competitively priced electricity supply is essential to Canada’s prosperity. Providing Canadians with the means to use electricity efficiently is necessary to maximize the potential of the Canadian electricity system, to minimize environmental impacts and to reduce electricity costs. Our members are committed to improving energy efficiency. We believe it is critical to reaching climate change targets as clear benefits for the economy and that it helps reduce Canadians' electricity bills.
Research by CEA has shown that the vast majority of consumers expect their electric utility to provide energy efficiency programs and information. Customers continue to look to their electric utility to help them manage their electricity consumption and their bills. Canadian electric utilities have been delivering energy efficiency programs for three decades. From 2014 to 2017, CEA member electric utilities saved almost 14,000 gigawatt hours of energy through external energy conservation programs. These energy efficiency programs have also resulted in avoiding greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 7.4 megatonnes of CO2 across Canada. To put this in perspective, this is comparable to taking two million vehicles off the road.
As you know, governments play a crucial role in creating policy, implementing product regulation, developing industry standards and building codes, and providing incentives to help manage demand. It is critical that governments support energy efficiency. As an example, through the Ontario energy manager program, Toronto Hydro has been able to fund 20 energy managers who cover a wide range of business types, lead awareness programs and identify opportunities for energy conservation improvement. For these businesses, energy conservation has become a part of their general practice.
CEA offers three recommendations to the committee which the government should consider implementing. The first is to partner with electric utilities to achieve maximum results from energy efficiency initiatives. Utilities have the expertise, program design, delivery capability, and customer and supplier relationships that are needed when implementing energy efficiency programs.
SaskPower has partnered with local retailers to offer point-of-purchase discounts on a variety of energy efficiency lighting products, ENERGY STAR technologies and smart technologies. The program is offered in approximately 300 retail locations across 125 communities in the province. The program also features in-store education with representatives at locations across the province.
Utilities have consumption data and an understanding of local conditions of energy demand, as well as pre-existing brand recognition and well-established long-standing relationships with the customers.
Utilities have a unique ability to respond to demand and manage it.
Second, the federal government should prioritize demand-side opportunities such as energy efficiency as a cost-effective option to meet climate change goals. A balanced approach to energy policy that includes a balanced emphasis on and attention to supply and demand is needed. An emphasis on only supply-side options overlooks benefits that accrue from demand-side programs, which, in an era of rising costs, can reduce energy input costs for businesses and help consumers better manage their energy consumption and, consequently, their bill.
In British Columbia, FortisBC’s gas programs began over 20 years ago, and its electricity programs have been offered for almost 30 years. Between 1989 and 2017, FortisBC invested almost $76 million in energy efficiency programs for its more than 172,000 electricity customers. This is expected to grow to almost $84 million in 2018, and it has saved enough electricity to power nearly 50,000 homes.
Finally, encouraging energy efficiency and conservation demand management is good for the utility business and the economy. Investments in energy efficiency can help bridge and/or pace needed electricity infrastructure investments. Economic benefits accrue locally, regionally, provincially and nationally from energy efficiency programs. Direct, induced and indirect benefits include customer savings, improved competitiveness for industry and businesses, jobs and economic growth.
Improvements in energy efficiency are a long-term and sustained benefit to the economy as energy savings are generated every year over the lifespan of a product.
As an example, one utility estimates that their spend of $730 million on conservation demand management between 2005 and 2020 will result in $2.5 billion in economic spinoffs and customer savings.
In closing, there are many benefits that energy efficiency delivers to Canadians: reduced energy expenditures, employment opportunities, increased economic competitiveness, improved energy security, and a cleaner environment through the reduction of GHG and air emissions across Canada.
Energy efficiency is sustainable. It can be a more cost-effective means to meeting electricity demand than traditional or renewable supply options. Increased energy efficiency is a major strategic objective of the electricity sector, and it is imperative for Canada's future prosperity.