
19 Jan What Cap-and-Trade Means for Ontario Natural Gas Customers
An additional 3.3¢ per cubic meter on your natural gas bill
On January 1, 2017, the Government of Ontario began its Cap-and-Trade Program to limit the amount of greenhouse gases homes and businesses are allowed to emit, a number that decreases over time. For natural gas customers, 3.3¢ per cubic meter has been added to your bill; those monies will be used to promote low-carbon energy solutions.
Not all indoor ice arenas in Ontario use natural gas to heat their water, but many of them do. Your natural gas bills depend on several factors, including efficiency of your equipment, number of resurfaces per day and resurfacing temperature. When FortisBC did a pilot on 10 arenas in BC, it found that REALice reduces the natural gas demand by 79%.
What does this mean to the typical arena?
The George Bell Arena in Toronto, for example, used about 53,000 m3 from January 2015 to November 2016. With a REALice installation, our estimates are they will save 16,000m3 off their energy use by using cold water — or 1,333 m3 per month. That means an additional savings of $528 per year — or $5,280 over a 10-year period in money they won’t be paying to the Cap-and-Trade program. Three point three cents doesn’t seem like a very big amount of money but it certainly adds up over time.
What can you do?
Talk to your natural gas rep. Both Enbridge Gas and Union Gas have incentive programs to encourage arenas to reduce their natural gas consumption. In addition, electricity savings are eligible for incentives through Ontario’s SaveONEnergy program.
Try our savings calculator to get an idea of what REALice will save your arena, or contact us directly by emailing info@realice.ca.
For more information, contact:
Florian Gabriel, Managing Director
SWICH Services Inc.
Canadian Technology Transfer Partner
Phone: +1-604-710-5479
Email: info@realice.ca
Website: www.realice.ca