Energy Efficiency For Business
Investing in energy efficiency provides companies and organizations with opportunities beyond energy savings. They can optimize and increase productivity, reduce maintenance costs and create safer and more welcoming environments for employees and customers.
From 2019 to 2020, Ontarians made significant contributions to the province’s conservation efforts by reducing energy use by 1.5 terawatt-hours (TWh). This is the same amount of energy needed to power a city the size of Oshawa for one year.
See how one London-based manufacturing facility adopted energy efficiency to reduce their energy use by 12 GWh and their costs by $1.5 million annually:
Save on Energy Programs for Business and Industry
Save on Energy Business programs are delivered by the IESO and provide support and tools to invest in energy-saving techniques, projects and capabilities. These include:
Retrofit: Install and benefit from newer, more energy-efficient equipment. Incentives are available for a range of upgrades from high efficiency lighting, ventilation, chillers, motors, fans and more.
Small Business Lighting: Incentives are available for small businesses to upgrade to energy-efficient lighting. Improved lighting can lower operating costs, improve-in store customer experience and provide more attractive product displays.
Energy Manager Program: Funding is available to hire an Energy Manager who has the technical expertise to recommend energy-saving equipment and technologies. They also have the project management skills to implement an energy management strategy – and can work directly with operations teams, vendors and service providers.
Multi-site Customers: Save on Energy provides a streamlined application process for businesses with multiple-locations across Ontario. Multi-site customers can submit a single streamlined application for the Energy Performance program, the Energy Manager program, and Retrofit.
Training and Support: Training and support education is available to help organizations develop capabilities to identify and implement energy efficiency solutions. Incentives are provided for courses ranging from beginner to industry-recognized professional accreditations.
For more information visit SaveonEnergy.ca
Transmission-Connected Customers
Programs are available to help transmission-connected companies invest in innovative process changes and equipment retrofits to reduce electricity and increase competitiveness. Programs include:
Demand Response
By participating in demand response, organizations are improving the reliability and flexibility of the electricity grid, while adding capacity and lowering power system costs. Demand response encourages businesses to shift their electricity use from peak hours to off-peak hours to reduce demand on the grid while reducing their energy costs.
Small businesses can take advantage of time-of-use rates, shifting non-essential energy consumption to off peak periods when the rate is less. To help support small business during the COVID-19 outbreak the provincial government has implemented a fixed electricity price, known as the COVID-19 Recovery Rate, of 12.8 cents per kWh. Learn more here.
- Through the IESO Demand Response Auction, large power consumers, as well as aggregators of facilities, can create an additional source of income and help meet provincial system needs.
- By participating in the Industrial Conservation Initiative, companies with an average peak electricity demand greater than one megawatt (MW) can control their Global Adjustment costs by reducing their energy use during the five highest demand peaks in a year.