PowerStream reports 6% dip in electricity use during Earth Hour


Yorkregion.com
March 29, 2015
By Simon Martin

The lights were out in more places than usual last night as a large number of York Region residents turned off their electricity to participate in Earth Hour.

PowerStream’s System Control Centre reported a service territory-wide 6 per cent electricity consumption reduction between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. This was an increase from the 4.8 per cent reduction achieved collectively in 2014 by customers in PowerStream’s service territory during Earth Hour 2014. The 2015 results represented a total savings of 61.5 megawatts (MW) in peak demand, or enough electricity to power 1,864 average-size homes over a 24-hour period.

Aurora led the way with a 7.8-per-cent reduction followed by Markham at 7.6 per cent, Vaughan at 5 per cent and Richmond Hill at 4.1 per cent.

“Earth Hour is a symbolic event for residents to show their support to help fight climate change and shed light on how we can all make a difference by reducing our electricity consumption,” said Maurizio Bevilacqua, PowerStream Board Chair and City of Vaughan Mayor. “We are pleased with our customers’ response as participants in this global event.”

PowerStream also supported Earth Hour 2015 in several other ways.

In addition to powering down the lights at its four work locations in Vaughan, Markham and Barrie, as well as reporting municipal power consumption reduction totals throughout its service territory during Earth Hour. PowerStream further demonstrates its commitment to the environment by sponsoring the Vaughan Earth Hour Lantern Walk held a Vaughan City Hall as well as the Markham Earth Hour Lantern Walk at the Cornell Community Centre.

PowerStream is a community-owned energy company providing power and related services to more than 375,000 customers residing or owning a business in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. It is jointly owned by the Cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan.