By making small changes like switching to fluorescent light bulbs, Ontario residents saved enough electricity to power a town last year, the province's six largest electricity distributors estimate.

Ottawa Hydro presented awards to Ottawa businesses and individuals who have made an especially big difference on Tuesday, the same day the Coalition of Large Distributors released a report calculating that southern and eastern Ontario residents saved enough electricity last year to power 33,511 homes.

That number was estimated by adding up the theoretical impact of many small changes made by 1.7 million customers of Enersource Hydro Mississauga, Horizon Utilities, Hydro Ottawa, PowerStream, Toronto Hydro-Electric System and Veridian Connections and assuming that each household uses the Ontario average of 750 kilowatt hours a month.

World Exchange Plaza saves 685,000 kilowatt hours

In Ottawa, the savings were thanks in part to customers such as Bentall Real Estate Services, which reduced the electricity consumption of the downtown World Exchange Plaza by 685,000 kilowatt hours a year by changing to a more energy-efficient lighting system.

Hydro Ottawa president and CEO Rosemarie Leclair, who presented the company with a certificate recognizing the achievement, said the awards were a way of offering thanks to customers and raising awareness about small, simple, significant actions such as closing doors when air conditioners are on, switching to LED Christmas lights and throwing out old, inefficient fridges.

"There are a bunch of small things that each of us can do individually that taken collectively will make a huge difference," she said.

In Ottawa and Casselman alone, Hydro Ottawa estimates 282,000 customers saved enough electricity to power 6,862 homes. The utility spent $4.6 million in 37 energy-saving programs in 2006 including:

  • Project Porchlight, a program that distributed 220,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs and is estimated to have saved enough electricity to power 2,400 homes for a year.
  • A program to remove and dispose of old refrigerators and freezers, estimated to have saved enough electricity to power 670 homes for a year.  
  • A business incentive program encouraging large customers such as the World Exchange Plaza to reduce electricity usage.
  • A program that retrofitted store exit signs with LED bulbs.
  • Peaksaver, a pilot project that allows Hydro Ottawa to control people's thermostats remotely to adjust their air conditioners on the hottest days.
With files from the Canadian Press