Natural Resources committee  We work in a merchant business. Energy management initiatives compete for capital against merchant opportunities. As a result of that, if the returns recognized from energy-efficiency projects are not better than the merchant opportunities, the capital will be directed to merchan

Natural Resources committee  On incentive programs, our preferred approach is performance-based incentive programs. Incentive programs driven into your rate structure, in my opinion, are a way utilities reduce the risk associated with administering these programs. It would reduce the overhead that the utilit

Natural Resources committee  Our company's hurdle rate is, generally speaking, an IRR of around 16%.

Natural Resources committee  Our experience is specific to the area of supermarkets. We're in the heat removal business. As part of the refrigeration process, we're rejecting heat from our stores, and generally it's rejected outside. We've worked with various developers on concepts where we would have a smal

Natural Resources committee  Ontario has the most expensive electricity rate structure of the provinces. Ontario class B accounts, which is the majority of our accounts, is around 15¢ a kilowatt hour, and in the flanking provinces, like Quebec, it would be about half of that. Alberta was a region that deregu

Natural Resources committee  Generally speaking, the cost to our business would ultimately transfer to the cost of goods—

Natural Resources committee  —which makes the cost of goods higher.

Natural Resources committee  We're not classified as a direct emitter, so I don't know if the cost would translate directly to us. I believe that the government has to do something in the area of carbon reduction. What format the provincial and federal governments take...I don't know what's the best way to

Natural Resources committee  The supermarket business in Canada is very competitive. At the end of the day, businesses have to make money to stay in existence. We try to manage these cost increases in every way we can. Energy efficiency is one of the ways we try to reduce our costs. As a result of that, ener

Natural Resources committee  We've been actively involved in energy management for the 30 years I've worked at Loblaw.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Mark Schembri. I head up technical services and store maintenance for Loblaw Companies. ln my role, I oversee electricity, waste and refrigeration operations within our stores. I'm a member of our company's carbon steering committee and