PowerStream Exceeds Electricity Conservation Target by 21%

PowerStream customers conserved a total of 496.34 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity between 2011 and 2014, helping the utility to exceed the cumulative energy savings target for its service territory, set out by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), by over 21%. PowerStream provides power and related services to 375,000 customers in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. It is jointly owned by the Cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan.

Strong relationships with customers, award winning progressive marketing campaigns and a locally-designed program for small business customers resulted in increased customer participation, which contributed to the success of the company’s conservation programs over the last four years.

Business customers responded positively to the financial incentives and energy savings afforded by provincial programs such as Retrofit and Small Business Lighting. PowerStream also offered its own Business Refrigeration Incentives program for small business customers. Residential customers participated in the Fridge & Freezer Pickup, peaksaver PLUS, saveONenergy Coupons and Heating & Cooling programs.

Leveraging its expertise, PowerStream also forged a successful conservation and demand management (CDM) delivery partnership with Collus PowerStream, a utility that serves customers in Collingwood and surrounding areas.

In addition to this achievement, PowerStream was an active stakeholder in the development of Ontario’s new Conservation First framework for 2015-2020. Subsequently, PowerStream became the first Ontario electric utility to submit a six-year CDM plan and sign a corresponding agreement with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).

In 2010, the OEB issued a conservation and demand management (CDM) Code for Electricity Distributors. The Code set out the obligations and requirements with which Ontario electric utilities were to comply in relation to the CDM targets set out in their licenses. PowerStream’s target was to achieve 95.57 MW of demand savings and 407.34 million kWh of cumulative energy savings over the period of January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014.