Ready, Set, Reduce- Are You Prepared for the 2022 Beyond Earth Hour Challenge?
Friday, March 25th, 2022 @ 6:00 PM to
Monday, March 28th, 2022 @ 6:00 AM
For the 9th year, Energy@Work is collaborating as a Program Advisor to BOMA Toronto’s 2022 Beyond Earth Hour Challenge. The challenge, which is an expansion of Earth Hour, invites participants to compete for recognition as the “Top Reducer”!
From March 25th 6:00PM – 28th 6:00AM, join us in tackling energy waste! The focus of the challenge is to enhance building performance through operational changes and eliminate “phantom power” through collaborative tenant and landlord efforts.
Check out our “Tips and Tricks” video for eliminating phantom power!
Challenge Registration is free and easy!
Visit https://www.bomavault.com/beyond-earth-hour for more resources, tips and tricks, or to watch Energy@Work’s Program Director, Lisa Liang present this year’s webinar that took place on Feb. 23rd.
The Importance of Monitoring: Identifying a $19,000 Credit
Tracking gas consumption in a large building requires the right people, process, and products in order to establish proper monitoring, and implement changes. Energy@Work’s Energy Management Action Plan (E-MAP) supports continual monitoring and includes monthly reviews of utilities as well as the development of a weather-corrected model.
During a monthly meeting, a large Toronto building’s gas CUSUM was reviewed. We noticed that the building had an unusual spike in consumption in their March-April 2020 gas bill.
Energy@Work’s Edward Newton compared the billed m3 with the meter readings and noticed an overcharge:
“[The building] was issued an estimated bill with 86,417 m3 listed as the consumption. However, the meter readings shown on the bill do not show a change to reflect the billed amount. The following bill charged 156,060 m3 to the account. However, the meter reading labelled "Previous" is the same value as the meter reading labelled "Previous" on the bill from the month before.
This means that they were charged for the same gas use twice and overcharged by 72,914 m3.”
Energy@Work followed up with Enbridge who issued a credit to the account totaling $19,063 on their next bill.
Having a weather-corrected model is what alerted us to the issue. Since gas use fluctuates so much due to weather, it is difficult to notice anything is wrong by just looking at the billed amount.
Sharing Our M&V Experience at Seneca College
Thanks go out to Raghad Kamel for inviting Energy@Work to present during her class to the students at Seneca College. It was a great opportunity to welcome young professionals to the Energy Management industry and to share mechanisms to succeed!
We had the opportunity to share some best practices and to outline our approaches and successes using Measurement and Verification (M&V). We demonstrated the practical application of the recently released RETScreen Version 8.1 and shared real life examples of what Energy@Work’s clients achieved, even during the pandemic. RETScreen V8.1 is quickly becoming an essential energy management tool within the commercial sector.
Presentations of this nature are great for students hoping to enter the industry after graduating. With a full curriculum, practical application can be difficult to determine. We are appreciative of the opportunity to connect with the students of Seneca and encourage others to collaborate as well
- students are our future!
Join Us in Welcoming Our Newest Team Member: Munaf Awadia
As an Energy Analyst, Munaf will be identifying industry trends, developing improvement strategies, analyzing utility bills, and much more.
Munaf’s commitment to sustainability stemmed from his enrollment in the Mechanical Engineering Program at Tolani F.G. Polytechnic College at 15 years old! Munaf has gone on to complete the Seneca College Mechanical Engineering program and continues to explore innovative technology and solutions to energy management and monitoring.
Munaf will be a wonderful addition to the Energy@Work team!
January’s Global Adjustment Mechanism (GAM)e Cost:
January 2022 GA cost was $0.502 billion. This is a 19% decrease from December 2021 GA. If we compare the sum from January 2022 with January 2021, there has been a 43% decrease.
Energy@Work provides a regular review of GAM costs and continues to ask “why?” and, this time, why did it drop almost in half?
GAM costs are largely Nuclear (OPG and non-OPG). However, Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) continues to be reported as the reason for GAM.
The reality is that CDM investment was slashed by 2/3 in the 2021-24 budget. This drastic reduction was noticed by the Canadian Efficiency Alliance
With less support for Energy Efficiency, it is important to develop your own Energy Management Action Plan (E-MAP) and include a Global Adjustment strategy.
Energy@Work’s services includes a “GAM coach”. We maintain the importance of a GAM Strategy for either Class A or Class B in order to win the (GAM)e. Our collective savings have exceeded $10 million, and we look forward to continuing to assist.
Score Card:
https://www.scorecard.efficiencycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Ontario-1.pdf
Energy Efficiency continues to be our best option. Using less means building less infrastructure.. very basic math.
What should you do?
With less Energy Efficiency support, it is important to be more self-sufficient. Develop your own Energy Management Action Plan (E-MAP) as well as a Global Adjustment Mechanism (GAM) Strategy.
Featured Case Study:
OEB to Investigate Options for Low Overnight Electricity Rates – About Time!
Minister of Energy, Todd Smith has initiated a review to determine options for low overnight electricity rates:
https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1001574/ontario-investigating-options-for-new-ultra-low-overnight-electricity-rate
Energy@Work is excited to see this kick off as we have been asking for this for well over 10 years:
iii) Allow Ontario ratepayers the ‘right of first refusal’ for surplus energy that is sold at a negative price out of province.
For those not familiar with Ontario’s Electricity Pricing, there are essentially two energy (kWh) charges:
1) Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP)
and
2) Global Adjustment (GA)
Electricity traded outside of Ontario is based on the HOEP hourly rate per kWh, $/kWh. This hourly price is set on a 5-minute basis to provide a rate which the IESO coordinates with generators to match supply requirements. In the evening, when demand is low, electricity is traded to the US and other provinces at the HOEP without GA. However, if an Ontario ratepayer wants to purchase the same – the price includes GA.
Scott Rouse commented in a REMI network article earlier this month:
“The U.S. has had a sweetheart deal for years for the surplus power that is sold out-of-province at a negative price,” concurs Scott Rouse, managing partner with the consulting firm Energy@Work. “This could be an investment in energy efficiency that delivers cheaper electricity and sustained environmental improvements.”
https://www.reminetwork.com/articles/ontario-explores-overnight-electricity-discount/
GA has become the predominate cost on an electricity bill.
Why are Ontarians being charged the GA cost but those outside of Ontario are not?
It doesn’t make sense and we’re glad to see the review occur. We are hoping for a proactive approach that will implement changes before 2023.
Stay tuned, stay connected and stay safe!
We thank everyone that has provided feedback and for your comments: positive and negative!
We appreciate hearing your thoughts and welcome your feedback on how we can improve and/or include other areas of interest to you: Please email: Requests@Energy-Efficiency.com