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January
28, 2004
Environmentalists
/ Energy companies endorse linking profits to conservation
For
Immediate Release
(Toronto, ON) A coalition of
environmentalists and energy companies today released a report, Making
Everyone a Winner, which calls on the Ontario Energy Board to link the
profits of Ontario’s electric utilities (e.g., Hydro One, Hydro Ottawa,
London Hydro, Toronto Hydro) to their success at reducing their customers’
bills by making them more energy efficient.
Making Everyone a Winner is a joint report of
Pollution Probe, the Green Energy Coalition (David Suzuki Foundation, Energy
Action Council of Toronto, Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club of Canada),
Collingwood Utility Services, Electric City, Hamilton Utilities Corporation
and Oakville Hydro.
According
to the report, linking the utilities’ profits to their success at promoting
conservation will create a quadruple win for Ontario, namely:
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Lower
electricity bills;
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Reduced
risks of blackouts and brownouts;
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Reduced
air pollution from coal-fired power plants; and,
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Higher
profits for Ontario’s electric utilities, which can be passed on to their
shareholders, the Government of Ontario and Ontario’s municipalities, to
help finance public services.
The
report estimates that the electric utilities’ $225 million initial energy
conservation budget, announced by Energy Minister Duncan on November 25, 2003,
could reduce consumers’ bills by $1.8 billion or more.
The
report can be downloaded by clicking on: http://www.pollutionprobe.org/Publications/Energy.htm
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For more information:
Ken
Ogilvie, Executive Director, Pollution Probe
416-926-1907 ext. 231
Alex
Bystrin, President and CEO, Oakville Hydro
905-825-9400
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