Guelph MP Liz Sandals says changes by the provincial government to hydro billing means 1,000 more businesses in Ontario will be eligible for relief on their hydro bills.
Sandals was at Linamar's Woodlawn Road plant on Friday to pump the tires on hydro changes announced in Monday's throne speech. In particular she focused on how those changes benefit not only homeowners and farmers, but also bigger industrial hydro consumers.
The government offers a program to them called the Industrial Conservation Initiative to larger industrial customers. When the program started a company had to consume 5 megawatts of electricity a month during peak hours to qualify for savings. That was lowered to 3 megawatts and the new proposals will see that threshold lowered to 1 megawatt.
Sandals said that lower threshold will not only make it available to smaller industrial users, but also large office buildings and institutional customers.
"All of our energy consumers now get some sort of advantage through the program," Sandals said.
"Eligible industrial customers will be able to find cost savings of up to 34 per cent, dependign on their ability to reduce peak electricity consumption,"
Sandals said.
Linamar CEO Linda Hasenfratz said hydro incentives work, not only in helping make Ontario manufacturers more competitive in the global market place through reduced costs, but they also motivate manufacturers to invest in measures that reduce their hydro consumption.
"Our plants are always looking at ways to reduce hydro consumption," said Hasenfratz, whose bigger plants have saved roughly $5 million in hydro savings through the ICI program over the past few years.
"Energy costs are a key competitive factor. Frankly, it's been an issue," Hasenfratz said of hydro costs in Ontario.
She said the new lower thresholds for taking part in ICI should enable all of Linamar's plants to take advantage of the program.
