Province to mandate utilities use London Hydro energy technology

Energy Minister Todd Smith in London Brent Lale reports on an announcement made by the provincial energy minister on Monday.

London, Ont. — Ontario is following London Hydro's lead when it comes to energy technology.

The Green Button standard, first implemented in London, Ont. will be mandated to all regulated electricity and natural gas utilities in the province within the next 24 months.

"Green Button is data," says Todd Smith, Ontario's energy minister, who was in London, Ont. Monday to make the announcement.

"Data can be uploaded into an app that people can access and they can really take more control over the consumption in their homes, the hours when their electricity is higher or lower and really manage their bills."

London Hydro CEO Vinay Sharma admits he was skeptical at first when the idea was pitched.

"I kind of felt 'Oh, another government program, I'm not interested in spending money on it,'" says Sharma.

"But slowly and gradually as I learned the value of standardizing anything, and if it is adopted, nation-wide or even North American continental-wide, it becomes then economical to develop services applications for large number of customers."

Smith read off numbers which, based on studies, could save the average consumer up to 18 per cent when they pair Green Button with smartphones and home devices.

The origial idea came more than a decade ago from then U.S. president Barack Obama's White House.

"They proposed this to unlock the data that is locked up in utilities legacy system," says Sharma. "In the whole North America, we were the first one to do it, and because of that initiative, we were invited twice to a conference in Washington by the White House, so that was that remarkable."

London Hydro is also partnering with Enbridge to combine the technology for hydro and gas.

"This gives you the ability to download everything and compare it as like for like, and so people can figure out how to optimize between the two," says Sarah Van Der Paelt, director of energy conservation at Enbridge.

Ontario will be the first province in Canada to mandate the standard, which will be voluntary.

''Individuals will have the option to take part in this type of a program but it can save you big money," says Smith. "It makes so much sense from a bill perspective and paying less but also a conservation initiative."