Over twenty volunteers from multiple sectors have been working diligently to help update the Community Energy Initiative with citizen input.
In April of 2016, Guelph City Council voted in favour to strike an arm's length, community-based advisory committee to provide governance, oversight and reporting to the community and council. The CEI task force has since re-branded itself and is now called Our Energy Guelph (OEG).
“I really think [OEG] helps bring the community together,” said Jonathan Knowles, Chair of Our Energy Guelph. “You can come into this saying ‘I don’t believe in climate change, but I do believe in saving a couple hundred grand in operating costs so I don’t have to lay people off next year.’”
The Community Energy Initiative, formerly the Community Energy Plan, is in it’s 10thyear. Guelph has been a leader in community energy planning, but it remains a political issue in Guelph.
“Different things can become political footbal,” said local solar energy business owner Steve Dyck, a member of Our Energy Guelph.
“My hope is that by having the community provide input and involvement in the programs and initiatives that Our Energy Guelph takes up ... we can avoid some of the missteps that (happen when) energy initiatives become politicized."
“One of the most challenging things has been to communicate what this really is,” said Knowles.
Our Energy Guelph held their first events to help educate the community and attendance (as expected by organizers) was lackluster. Instead of repeating these events, OEG did branch out and has been attending community events throughout the summer.
“We call this the E.P.I.C. Road Show – the Energy Pop-up Innovation center,” said Kirby Calvert, Co-Chair of OEG and assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Guelph. “If we want to do community engagement well, we have to go to the community, we can’t expect them to come to us, “
Originally, OEG was to consist of three members from business/ industry, home builder/ development, three from energy/environmental, two from academia, one from the Guelph Wellington Chamber of Commerce, two from the provincial/federal government and three members from the public – a max total of 16 community members.
“Three new seats were added to accommodate electricity, natural gas and water utilities,” wrote Robert Kerr, the city's former Manager of Community Energy in a Feb. 2017 report to council. “In addition, due to the strong participation from the business community in the application process an extra seat was added.”
After an application submission extension period, the final taskforce consists of 21 members; 19 men and two women.
The 21st position added was Alex Chapman, Manager of the Climate Change Office for the City of Guelph. Chapman also leads the Energy, Water and Climate Change (EWACC) working group that parallels OEG functioning across city departments at the City of Guelph.
The final report from Our Energy Guelph to council with recommendations for the CEI update was scheduled for Q1, 2017, but due to a delay in funding, and increased need for research, it has been pushed back twice to Feb. 2018.
“These are in some ways administrative delays they have actually been useful and helpful,” said Calvert. “In my opinion, the original timeline was truncated and it was very ambitious.”
While timeline has been pushed back, the OEG volunteers have been meeting nearly twice as regularly then originally planned. Members of the taskforce remain committed to the project until the final report is sent to council.
All Our Energy Guelph reports to council, minutes and meetings are open and available to the public.
For more information visit ourenergyguelph.ca.
