By David Arkell, 360 Energy
In Ontario, delivery charges at both Enbridge and Union Gas have increased by approximately 3.35 cents per m3 (approx. $0.8 9/GJ) as part of the government's carbon emissions reduction/Cap and Trade program.
Albertans are seeing similar new carbon fees this month as a result of that province's carbon tax. While the direct impact will vary depending on your specific rate structure and usage, costs are certain to increase. Large gas users who are registered in the Cap and Trade program will see less of an impact. For small and mid-size users the only option to reduce costs is to find ways of controlling usage.
These new expenses may seem to have come out of the blue, but they have actually been public since mid-2016. If your organization didn't see this coming, there are two likely reasons why:
- Nobody Knew. You were focused on day to day operations and no one received or understood critical energy information, such as the arrival of the Cap and Trade program or carbon tax.
- Nobody Communicated. Some of your employees may have attended seminars or read about what to expect, but this information didn't get spread to all those who might be impacted. This can happen because organizations work in silos and people may not understand the relevance of this information to other departments.
The first step to controlling your energy costs - including carbon pricing - is understanding your energy bill. Through this you can begin to understand your usage and understand your costs. Develop a snapshot of where your organization is now so you can determine where you want to go. In Ontario, this step is particularly important, as customers using approximately 200,000 GJs or more of gas per year may qualify for free allowances and greatly reduced costs under the program.
The second key step to managing your costs is to create a multi discipline energy team. Energy and carbon are influenced by many aspects of an organization. This is unlike any other team developed in your organization. This energy team has to be properly educated on energy issues and continually be aware of changing energy markets and site energy usage. Then they can draw upon their individual knowledge and talents in operations, accounting, and management to tackle carbon emissions and related costs from many different angles. To ensure measurable savings are focused on every year the energy team should create an energy plan which proactively anticipates what actions should be taken to sustain efficiencies and savings over time. This ensures that no one experiences a nasty surprise when the bill arrives.
David Arkell is the President and CEO of 360Energy, an organization that helps businesses with measurable energy performance improvements.
For more information:
360 Energy Inc.
David Arkell
1-877-431-0332
david.arkell@360energy.net
www.360energy.net