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The recently-announced Clean Electricity Regulations will reduce pollution in our electricity grids even as the grids grow to meet soaring demand for clean electricity. However, the rules also allow for the continued use of natural gas plants<\/a> in the name of supporting flexibility and reliability. In part, this is to ensure grid operators have resources that can be brought online quickly when electricity demand is high or renewable energy generation is low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But gas is not the only flexible option. Every province has an alternative, largely-untapped resource found in customer households and businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By reducing or shifting their electricity usage when demand is high or energy supply is low, homes and businesses across the country can act like flexible power plants and support the stability of the electrical system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are numerous examples of what this could look like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To shift their demand, customers can charge their hot water tanks and electric vehicles when the wind is blowing, so they are ready to reduce demand when the electricity system needs it. Crucially, these ways of shifting and lowering electricity demand don\u2019t inconvenience participating households and businesses and often come with added benefits like more comfort from better insulation and heating systems, reliability from home batteries keeping the lights on during power outages, and cost savings from reduced energy bills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s better is that people can get paid for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shifting and optimizing energy demand means that electricity utilities save money by not having to pay for unneeded power plants, fossil fuels and grid infrastructure, and they can use more renewable energy when it is available. The more customers lower costs and improve reliability for everyone, the more they can earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Electricity system managers are already tapping into customer-driven solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Ontario, electricity customers can get $75 upfront for using smart thermostats to turn on air conditioning in advance of extreme heat days. Pre-cooling these homes means less energy use when the grid is most strained. No less than 100,000 households<\/a> enrolled in the first six months, creating a 90-megawatt \u201cvirtual power plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As markets and regulations call for replacing fossil fuels with electricity while cleaning up the electricity grid, it is vital that we reorient policy, so paying people for energy efficiency is the first resort and natural gas the last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of advancing their clean-electricity ambitions, the federal government can help push customer-driven solutions to the front of the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, it could use match funding to incentivize more utility energy efficiency investments and require smart systems to be built into appliances and equipment, like hot water tanks. It can attach requirements to its funding to make sure utilities let demand-side efficiency compete with energy supply options, and customers can save money by sharing energy use data with innovative energy demand technology companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Provincial governments also have a vital role to play. They can require utilities to meet targets for energy efficiency, demand flexibility and require electricity planners to value the societal and customer benefits of using less energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By unlocking the power potential of households and businesses, we can ensure a reliable and cost-effective electricity system that depends less on gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, it\u2019s better to pay people than power plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This post was co-authored by Brendan Haley and Sachi Gibson and first appeared in Canada’s National Observer.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
Commercial buildings can optimize lighting, cooling and ventilation through automation.
Coupling insulation with high-efficiency heat pumps means less energy demand when it gets cold. And as more and more homes and businesses ditch fossil fuels for electricity, this customer-driven resource is only getting bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n