The Estevan Chamber of Commerce鈥檚 most recent luncheon was a discussion of the many ways business owners can keep track of and optimize their power use with the help of a number of programs SaskPower has created for such purposes.
Megan Patterson, a customer programs consultant, and Pat Parrott, a program manger with SaskPower鈥檚 commercial lighting incentive, spoke to a number of guests representing some of Estevan鈥檚 business community about a number of programs SaskPower has in place to help its customers, including the business community, get the most out of the services the Crown corporation provides them through their energy efficiency program.
Patterson described the situation that SaskPower faces in power generation, with aging power infrastructure, forthcoming emissions regulations, the necessity of doubling the company鈥檚 renewable sources of energy by 2030 and the ever-growing demand for power in Saskatchewan, with recent peak-records of energy demand, this past December and January.
Patterson noted the company uses its initiatives to provide savings for customers, reduce waste of electricity and decrease emissions, through the added value of utilizing less electricity and using what is utilized more efficiently. She noted this is accomplished through outreach programs, resulting in savings, sustainability, emissions reductions and added value for customers.
Parrott said the programs SaskPower offers use metrics such as how much energy a particular home or business utilizes, and how much of that use is wasted energy. There is a focus on every use of power, such as how much is used to keep lights running, since lighting is what drives a great deal of the demand for power in Saskatchewan.聽
Programs entail a number of incentives. These include modifications to existing technology or the replacement of existing technology, and are applicable in the case of technologies including lighting, refrigeration and 鈥渟mart plugs鈥� for cars that gauge electricity use and temperature, among many other types of technology that businesses, industries and homes use, Parrott said.聽
Such technology served as examples to how SaskPower鈥檚 programs used qualified products through incentives to benefit businesses in terms of their energy costs and efficiency.
鈥淢ost people aren鈥檛 even ensuring what they鈥檙e paying on their electricity bill. Somewhere lower than that is energy efficiency,鈥� said Parrott. 鈥淏ut those businesses are interested in driving costs down. That鈥檚 where you see small manufacturing plants, and metrics, like quality controls there. The real question is, how much energy do you waste?鈥�
Parrott said SaskPower has interest in that waste as a source of power, to the point where the company is interested in paying for wasted electricity that is in use by its customers.聽
Patterson described a similar residential tool online, that will be launched in March, allowing customers of SaskPower to input their domestic power use habits to get recommendations on how they can be more energy efficient.
