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Find out what a Regional Energy Manager can do for you

With no real end for the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, industrial businesses in B.C. have been looking for ways to reduce costs and remain competitive.

Many of them have found that focusing on their energy usage can uncover all kinds of opportunities. And if your organization uses less than 4 gigawatt hours a year, the easiest way to do this is talk to a Regional Energy Manager. They'll help you to:

• Determine your eligibility for incentives or programs
• Navigate the application process from beginning to end

Demand for their expertise has been high this year, so we're excited to announce we've just added a new Regional Energy Manager to the team. Daman Kochhar joins us with both Canadian and international energy experience.

Daman will be joining Ida Keung – who many of you will be familiar with – to support even more small and medium-sized industrial businesses across the province. Together, they'll help customers access BC Hydro studies and incentives and they'll also work with customers to monitor overall consumption and avoid power factor surcharges caused by inefficient machinery or behaviour.

What kind of savings are possible?

In just under seven years, Ida has completed 137 projects, saving a total of 12,120,533 kWh (or $969,644.24 based on $0.08/kWh). If a typical home consumes 11,000 kWh a year, that's the equivalent of powering over 1,100 homes. So clearly, there are some significant savings to be made.

Here are just a few examples:

• A recent project helping a printing press upgrade their lighting to LED will save the business around $25,000.00 in electricity costs a year.
• A recent project helping a mushroom farm optimize their refrigeration system will save the business around $17,000.00 in electricity costs a year.

While some projects may require retrofits, many could be avoided by just regularly checking equipment usage and performance.

For instance, did you know that just a single quarter-inch leak from an air compressor could add $7,500 per year in additional power costs? That's why BC Hydro offers a free leak tag kit. Your Regional Energy Manager will also provide information on our other programs and resources that could help your company save energy through low and no-cost operational efficiencies.

At the other end of the spectrum, Ida recently helped a major manufacturing facility to save 360,000 kWh a year with an LED lighting upgrade. "The total cost was $184K and the BC Hydro incentive was $65K. So with annual savings of $29K, they have a four-year payback and staff are already enjoying the benefits of much more pleasant, brighter LED lighting."

What's the best way to access incentives?

Many of these projects access BC Hydro incentives via SIP, our Self-serve Incentive Program. This is aimed at facilities using more than 500 megawatt-hours of electricity per year and wanting to upgrade compressed air systems and/or industrial lighting.

If you can identify the right kind of energy-efficient upgrades, our current SIP promotion can add up to a 25% bonus on top of the incentive amount, and potentially fund up to 100% of the project.

So with a $10k incentive, you'd now receive up to an additional $2.5K ($12.5K total incentive) if your completed project meets our cost-effectiveness tests.

Time is running out, but you still have until September 1, 2020 to get your incentive agreement in place. Ida and Daman will do all they can to help you meet the deadline.

So if your business is a little slower during the pandemic, why not take advantage of having a quieter facility and visit our Regional energy manager page, contact us by email, or call the Business Helpdesk at 1 866 522 4713.

Get the latest COVID-19 advice for your business

Make sure your team and your business are benefitting from the latest B.C. Government advice on COVID-19, including their Support for Businesses information.

And of course, we're here to help. Reach out to your Key Account Manager or Regional Energy Manager if you have any questions or concerns.