Ontario’s electric system operator plans to implement a program where customers with smart thermostats would be paid to turn down their air conditioning remotely on hot summer days.
Energy Minister Todd Smith had asked the Independent Power System Operator to suggest new conservation initiatives as the province looks to manage growing demand for electrification.
It announced Tuesday that it accepted their recommendations and will launch new and expanded programs beginning next year, at a cost of $342 million.
One of the programs will allow homes with central air conditioning and a smart thermostat to volunteer to allow the IESO to lower their cooling load to reduce peak demand on certain summer days, and will be paid an as-yet-unspecified incentive. .
The programs announced Tuesday will have a significant benefit to all taxpayers by 2025, Smith said.
“This expansion will help generate enough annual electricity savings to power about 130,000 homes each year and reduce costs for consumers by more than $650 million,” he told a news conference.
“It’s a win for customers, it’s a win for climate and it’s a win for Ontario.”
The government said that over a lifetime of up to 20 years, the programs will result in a reduction of three million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Programs also include support for greenhouses in southwestern Ontario, such as incentives to install LED lighting or resources such as solar generation or battery storage, as well as enhancements to the Save On Energy Retrofit program for businesses, institutions and municipalities.
“Whether it’s funding for municipalities to upgrade coolers at their local tracks or arenas, funding for a hospital to make HVAC or air handling system upgrades, or funding for a local business to make building improvements like new insulation or better windows and doors,” Smith said. .
“All of these improvements would not only reduce demand on the provincial grid, but also reduce energy use and operating costs.”
Ontario opposition parties said the programs announced Tuesday don’t even replace a host of energy conservation programs previously cut by the Progressive Conservative government, such as an incentive to buy energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment and energy efficiency incentives. for new buildings.
“This program is woefully inadequate to address the climate crisis and electricity shortage facing Ontario,” Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said.
“A small incentive targeted at a select group of homeowners, disguised as an energy efficiency program, does not make up for the efficiency programs that (Prime Minister Doug) Ford canceled four years ago.”
In recent months, the IESO has been planning new conservation initiatives, as well as looking to purchase new electricity generation as it sought to fill a looming electricity supply gap, with the Pickering nuclear power plant about to close and demand at increase.
But Smith said last week that the province plans to operate Pickering for another year, until 2026, and possibly renew it to operate for another 30 years, as “unprecedented growth” in areas such as electric vehicle manufacturing means demand it could rise even faster than previously anticipated.
The IESO says that conservation is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of mitigating demand.
Critics of the Progressive Conservative government say the province wouldn’t be in such a big supply crisis now if it hadn’t canceled 750 green energy contracts during Ford’s first term.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 4, 2022.