Ontario’s current Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) framework established successes by offering rebates for customers adopting energy-saving technologies. Since the inception of the initial framework, customer priorities have shifted, and a new suite of technologies and delivery methods have matured. These changes present opportunities to address today’s electricity challenges and modernize the next generation of CDM strategies. With this written submission, we aim to help the Government of Ontario maximize the consumer economic benefits of electricity energy efficiency initiatives with recommendations to:
- Include beneficial electrification as an eligible CDM activity to support customer interest in decarbonization.
- Structure and incentivize CDM as a resource that can be used to respond to changing system, market, and customer needs.
- Explore incentives and regulatory measures that increase utility buy-in to energy efficiency programs.
- Assess how alternative financial incentives could leverage Ontario’s smart meter network to accelerate energy efficiency uptake.
The Pembina Institute supports the modernization of Ontario’s Conservation and Demand Management programs led by the Ministry of Energy, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to the questions outlined in the Electricity Energy Efficiency Programming Post 2024 notice (ERO number 019-7401).
