Good morning.
Thank you for the opportunity to present on the role of natural gas utilities in delivering energy efficiency in Canada. My name is Paul Cheliak. I'm the Vice-President of Public and Regulatory Affairs with the Canadian Gas Association.
My remarks today will focus on three areas: the role of Canada's natural gas utilities in delivering energy efficiency programs, the need for enhanced public-private collaboration, and recommendations for the committee to realize Canada's natural gas energy efficiency potential.
By way of background, the Canadian Gas Association is the voice of Canada's natural gas delivery industry. Our members are gas distribution and transmission companies, manufacturers and energy service entities. Today, more than 20 million Canadians rely on and benefit from affordable and clean natural gas for their energy needs. In 2017, natural gas met 34% of Canada's energy needs. This compares to 20% met by electricity, 40% met by oil, and 6% met by other fuels.
The National Energy Board, in its November 2018 supply and demand report, forecasts that by 2030 natural gas will surpass oil as the single largest fuel for the country's energy needs. With this future, while a bright one, the natural gas industry is committed to promoting and advancing the efficient use of our product.
As historical context, for over 20 years natural gas utilities have been delivering energy efficiency programs to Canadians, and the reason for this is simple: A customer who has a lower utility bill is, frankly, a happier customer. Utility programs consist of incentives to support consumer investments in more efficient equipment, home energy audits, building retrofits, and education and awareness.
The results are significant. As of 2017, natural gas utilities invested over $1 billion in their energy efficiency programs, saving consumers $1.5 billion in natural gas costs. At the same time, these same programs have reduced Canada's cumulative greenhouse gas emissions by 60 megatonnes since 1995.
In looking to 2030 and beyond, we know that more can be done on energy efficiency. We trust that the report you're looking at will examine these measures. In fact, over the last 12 months we've been working closely with Natural Resources Canada on developing road maps for long-term space and water heating regulations in Canada. This important work must be done in order to transform energy use markets to higher efficiency.
Further, in 2016 CGA commissioned ICF International to quantify the emissions reduction potential from natural gas efficiency programs across Canada. That study, available on our website, points to an untapped 12 megatonnes of GHG emission reduction potential. We know that in order to realize that 12 megatonnes, we must innovate. We must innovate in the way we heat our homes and our businesses, and in the ways our industries use energy.
In response to this need, CGA and its gas utilities created the natural gas innovation fund in October 2016. NGIF was created to respond to a need by industry to collaborate, co-fund and commit over the long term to support clean tech innovation in natural gas. To date, NGIF has supported 14 projects, approved $8 million in utility funding and leveraged $70 million in outside capital. In many cases, we are collaborating with government in making these investments in Canadian clean tech companies.
Through our experience to date, we can already see that the future of technology development and energy efficiency in Canada will require partnership between public and private entities. Let me share with the committee a brief example of a partnership we're working on right now with Natural Resources Canada. Through our utilities, we've been working on a program called LEEP, local energy efficiency partnerships. What's innovative about LEEP is that it brings together in a room manufacturers, homebuilders, gas utilities and equipment providers to focus on what technologies are needed to meet the homes of the future in Canada. Learnings are shared among the partners and the results are real. From our perspective, it is this collaborative nature that LEEP brings to the table that will increasingly be needed in the future.
If I may, I'll conclude my remarks with some recommendations for the committee.
First, leverage natural gas utility funding and expertise. Currently, Canadian utilities are investing $250 million per year in their energy efficiency programs. These are funds that are on the table and can be leveraged by government. You may recall that one of the most successful energy efficiency programs in Canada was the home energy retrofit program, which brought together government and utility funding to help homeowners improve the way they use energy. Programs like this deserve revisiting. Further, the federal government should expand funding for programs like LEEP to extend it beyond just the residential sector and into the commercial building space.
Second, chart a cost-effective long-term path for energy efficiency in Canada. As we look to implement the pan-Canadian framework, things like long-term road maps for space heating are important measures, just as new equipment regulations and net-zero homes are important things for Canada. However, they must be recognized under their impacts of cost to consumers. Further, to be effective, any road map or strategy must be followed by policy support, including program funding, education and awareness, and codes and standards development.
Third, over the years federal energy funding has been disproportionally weighted toward energy supply and the associated technologies that produce energy: renewable electricity, biofuels, etc. More can and should be done on the demand side, especially with natural gas. We recommend a federal fund to support gas technologies that meet the criteria of our natural gas innovation fund and the federal government alike. Finally, we recommend greater funding support for federal laboratories like CanmetENERGY and the National Research Council to further their important work on natural gas technology.
In conclusion, the natural gas industry is positioned to support Canada's energy efficiency future. We bring to the table knowledge and consumer relationships that can be leveraged to benefit governments, industry and, most importantly, Canadian natural gas consumers.
Thank you.