In 2010 when the Ministry of Energy issued a supporting long term plan.  It is expected electricity prices will increase by 3.5%/year over the next 20 years.

Renewable sources of energy include wind turbines and solar panels.

CDM is a key part of the plan.  There are 4 conservation categories:

• Energy efficiency
• Demand management
• Behind the meter distributed generation
• Fuel switching

Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge are working together to deliver programs in Waterloo Region.  They delivered all 4 programs mentioned above from 2008 – 2010 and will be expanding these in 2011 – 2014.

The Smart Grid is fundamental to this.  It includes:

• Two-way power flows and metering for connection of new renewable generation systems.

• Two-way communication links between the customer and the Local Distribution Companyfor:

o   Outage notification

o   Peak load control

o   In-home displays

• Smart meters and time-of-use pricing and billing

• Distribution automation to improve reliability

• Charging of electric vehicles

Smart Meters are important to the strategy.  Peak demand periods  have a number of impacts

• Electricity costs increase – higher demand means higher prices
• Environmental impact of building extra hydro generation plants
• It creates additional infrastructure which the consumer pays for
• It puts a strain on the system

Working together to reduce use at peak times makes sense.  Smart meters and Time-of-Use rates help do this.

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