Rethinking Energy Conservation in Ontario – Results:Electricity Conservation Targets in Ontario Government Operations

In November, 2010, the ECO released volume 2 of its Annual Report on the progress of activities in Ontario to reduce or make more efficient use of electricity, natural gas, propane, oil and transportation fuels. Click here for more information on this report, including videos and communications materials.
Executive Summary Introduction Conservation Program Evaluation	Government-Established Targets Council of the Federation Energy Efficiency Target Province-Wide Electricity Conservation Targets Targets for Smart Meters and Time-of-Use Electricity Prices Electricity Conservation Targets in Ontario Government Operations Transportation Fuels Standards Electric Vehicle Goal Education Sector Conservation Benchmarking	Progress on Selected Initiatives Ontario Power Authority Demand Response Programs Natural Gas Utility Conservation Programs MicroFIT Home Energy Savings Program (HESP) Ontario Solar Thermal Heating Incentive (OSTHI) Municipal Eco Challenge Fund (MECF) The OPS Green Transformation Strategy Green Commercial Vehicle Program

The Ontario government has committed to reduce electricity use in its own facilities by 20 per cent by 2012. This commitment was made in two stages and the reduction is measured against a baseline of 2002/2003 data. The first stage of the commitment was made on April 1, 2004, when the Chair of Management Board of Cabinet announced the Ontario government would reduce its own electricity use by 10 percent by 2007 in government facilities. The second stage was made in August 2007, when the government announced it would reduce consumption by an additional 10 per cent by 2012 in its Go Green: Ontario’s Action Plan On Climate Change report.

Results

Responsibility for tracking the progress of the government’s electricity reduction commitment lies with the Ministry of Infrastructure (MOI). This is no small task. The Ontario government is one of the province’s largest employers, with over 68,000 full-time equivalent employees.

MOI oversees the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), an agency that manages, on behalf of many ministries, property occupied by the Ontario government. Five ministries manage their own facilities independently of ORC. MOI is responsible for reporting the aggregated energy use for government-owned facilities.

MOI is currently in the process of verifying its energy reduction amounts and baseline data for ORC-managed buildings as well as facilities managed by the five ministries. The ECO will review this baseline verification and consumption reduction initiative more fully once we receive the information from the ministry.

At this time, the ECO notes that the government encountered several obstacles related to the measurement and validation of electricity reductions. To have avoided such obstacles, Ontario should have implemented an appropriate evaluation, measurement, and verification framework, as outlined in section 2.0 of this report.

For example, in 2007 the government claimed that it reduced its electricity by 12 per cent from 2002/2003, exceeding its target by 2 per cent. However, only recently has the ministry started to validate the baseline electricity amounts and reduction claims. Furthermore, since electricity providers and LDCs do not keep records of electricity bills for more than five years, the electricity providers no longer have data showing the amounts supplied to government facilities. To overcome this obstacle, MOI’s baseline data will include estimated amounts in its verification analysis.

Issues and ECO Comment

In hindsight, the government should have started verifying the 2002/2003 electricity baseline when it established its original target to reduce electricity by 10 per cent. It also should have taken proper action to ensure valid ongoing measurements of electricity consumption.

Nevertheless, the ECO commends the government for undertaking the data verification initiative. The ECO also commends a number of other related steps that MOI is undertaking to improve energy conservation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations and the broader public sector. These initiatives include the creation of an Energy Master Plan that is a 10-year formal strategy for energy management in government buildings and the re-commissioning of buildings.