FILE PHOTO - An electrical substation is pictured in this file photo. Penticton city council will decide whether or not to extend the residential energy retrofit program until 2019.
(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)
April 04, 2017 - 3:45 PM
PENTICTON - The City of Penticton’s energy retrofit loan program is achieving the goals defined for it, but at a slower rate than anticipated.
The program is scheduled to conclude in December, but Electric Utility manager Shawn Filice will ask council to extend it until 2019 at today’s, April 4, regular council meeting so the targeted goals can be achieved.
The program, which began in 2013 to offer loans to the city’s residential customers to retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient was scheduled to conclude Dec. 31 this year, but as of Dec. 31, 2016, less than 50 per cent of the budgeted dollars had been spent and less than 50 per cent of the program’s targets achieved.
Filice says in his report only 194 applications were received out of an anticipated 400, and only $539,141 spent on retrofits compared to the target amount of $1,174,000. The program has so far saved 85,398 kWh, equivalent of the average energy consumption of eight Penticton homes.
He calls the program very successfull "as it is technically cost neutral and has had no adverse affect on the budget, or the electric utility reserve account.”
Based on year to date performance the original targets won’t be achieved until the end of 2019. He is asking council to extend the program for another two years.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017