Electricity program ‘an incentive for businesses’

Energy minister visits Hamilton manufacturing plant to tout benefits of industrial conservation initiative

Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault was in town to show how a Hamilton company is a beneficiary of the province’s industrial conservation initiative (ICI).

Thibeault was at A. Raymond Tinnerman Manufacturing Hamilton Inc. on Parkdale Avenue North on Thursday. The company produces metal fasteners for automotive and industrial markets.

Thibeault said many businesses can see a reduction of up to a third in their electricity bills under the initiative.

The ICI, which lowers electricity rates for large companies, provides a strong incentive for companies to lower their cost by reducing their electricity use during system peak hours and shifting it to off-peak hours, Thibeault said.

Raymond Tinnerman plant manager Chris Roik said the company stands to save $116,000 a year on an otherwise $900,000 annual electricity bill.

Raymond Tinnerman now qualifies for the ICI program because the province lowered the eligibility to join. Now all electricity consumers with average monthly peak demand greater than one megawatt can participate.

“The ICI program provides an incentive for businesses and large electricity consumers across the province to conserve energy during the peak hours of consumption, and in combination with these conservation measures, the province and all of its ratepayers will benefit,” Thibeault said, “because through the energy we’re conserving through this program, we’re able to divert a need to build extensive … generating facilities in the long term.”

Ontario business owners have complained that high electricity rates put them at a severe disadvantage and, in some cases, are a threat to their survival.

The province announced earlier this year it would expand the ICI so that mid-sized manufacturers can save up to a third of their electricity costs on the global adjustment line of their power bill.