Provincial Energy Efficiency Policy Scorecard Rankings Highlights

WRITTEN BY ANGELICA SYIEMIONG PEREIRA ∙ TORONTO, ONTARIO

Energy Efficiency is one of the best strategies to tackle climate change and help utilities avoid investing in unnecessary energy generation. The cost of new energy generation is much higher than the cost of improving the energy efficiency of homes and businesses -- and the rewards are greater. Efficiency Canada’s recently published Provincial Energy Efficiency Scorecard is a Canadian version of the U.S.’ scorecard released annually by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. 

The scorecard highlights and ranks each province based on 5 key metrics: energy efficiency programs, enabling policies, transportation, buildings, and industry.  

We’ve summarized the province-by-province highlight, and will be sharing them on our blog over the coming weeks:

Saskatchewan
Overall Score: 18/100
Ranking: 9th

The April 2019 Climate Resilience Saskatchewan report includes a measure to save 87 GWh in 2030 from energy efficiency and conservation programs, this equals to only 0.3% of annual savings as a percentage of sales. However the province trails behind other provinces in savings and spending on electricity and gas energy conservation programs. 

Saskatchewan was the only province to score 0 for Transportation. There are currently no government or utility led programs to support construction for EV charging stations. Owing to the lack of charging infrastructure the province has less than 1 EV/PHEV registration for every 1000 light duty vehicles registered. 

In 2019, Saskatchewan was the first province to adopt the 2017 National Energy Code for Buildings. The code will provide substantial energy efficiency improvements over the 2015 version. 

One of the province’s greatest strengths in energy efficiency is their improvements to their industrial energy management efforts. SaskPower’s three-stage industrial cohort program reduces complications and encourages participants to adopt energy management systems. 

Manitoba
Overall Score: 32/100
Ranking: 5th

Energy efficiency as a resource has helped the province achieve big program savings. The plethora of program offerings range from incentives to financing for both electricity and natural gas energy savings. Manitoba Hydro also has one of the most unique financing programs in the country called PAYS (pay-as-you-save). The utility also offers efficiency services for homes heated by oil and propane through the Affordable Energy Fund created under the Energy Savings Act and continued under the Efficiency Manitoba Act. 

This act mandates annual savings equal to 1.5% of sales for electricity and 0.75% for natural gas. Efficiency Manitoba, the new crown corporation filed a three-year plan this year. Utility spending on saving electricity and natural gas as a percentage of revenues is the highest in Manitoba. 

Manitoba Hydro has supported innovation and pilot projects worth $300,000 through its Innovation Fund in their Demand Side Management budget. The utility identified emerging technologies and future opportunities worth $7 million budget between 2016 and 2019.

Though the province has vast and comprehensive energy efficiency programs, it lags behind other provinces in the total certified residential energy managers/advisors. It is as important to invest in programs as it is to invest in training, online audit technologies and capacity building in the province. Like Saskatchewan, Manitoba too has no support from the government or utilities for the construction of charging stations.

We’ll be covering the rest of the Canadian Provinces over the coming weeks on the blog. Can’t wait? Check out the full report here.