Corporate Citizenship
We will contribute to the well-being of the community, by acting at all times as a responsible and engaged corporate citizen.
As a community company that delivers essential services to Ottawa residents – and whose predecessor companies have done so for more than 100 years – contributing to the well-being of the community has always been a part of Hydro Ottawa’s core mandate. It’s an integral part of our mission, to create long-term value for our shareholder, benefiting our customers and the communities we serve.
We do so by providing a reliable and safe supply of electricity, increasing the supply of renewable energy and respecting the environment in our work; but our commitment also goes beyond our day-to-day operations. The Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies is active in our community promoting conservation and demand management, educating children and youth about electricity safety, helping to mitigate the impact of energy costs for those in need, and making other contributions to our City’s quality of life.
Hydro Ottawa once again partnered with Enbridge Gas Distribution, the United Way/Centraide Ottawa and the Salvation Army Booth Centre to deliver the Winter Warmth program in Ottawa in 2008/2009, helping low-income families to pay their energy bills during the coldest months of the year. In total, Hydro Ottawa’s contribution assisted 184 households, benefiting 581 individuals.
Hydro Ottawa took this commitment to helping Ottawa residents stay safe and warm a step further in 2009, launching an innovative community investment fund called the Hydro Ottawa Shelter and Warmth Fund, in partnership with the United Way/Centraide Ottawa. This fund – the first of its kind in Ottawa – uses the corporate matching funds from Hydro Ottawa’s annual workplace United Way campaign to support local organizations working to ensure Ottawa residents in need have access to secure, affordable housing. In 2009, the first year of operation for the Shelter and Warmth Fund, a total of $38,000 was provided to four local organizations.
Contributions through the Shelter and Warmth Fund will grow in 2010, thanks to the efforts of Hydro Ottawa’s employees, who once again surpassed their previous best in the company’s annual United Way campaign. A total contribution of over $154,600 was achieved through employee pledges, fundraising events, and corporate matching.
More than 19,500 students at 51 elementary schools learned valuable lessons about using electricity safely and wisely through Hydro Ottawa’s Electricity Safety and Conservation presentations. And Hydro Ottawa was once again honoured to host the Special Needs Day at the Gloucester Fair, with 30 Hydro Ottawa volunteers helping 800 disabled children enjoy a day at the fair, complete with rides, games and a barbeque lunch.
Hydro Ottawa also continued to play a leading role in creating a culture of conservation in our community. Since the company began actively promoting energy conservation in 2005, its conservation initiatives have resulted in more than 100 million kilowatt hours saved. More than 18,500 old, inefficient refrigerators have been reclaimed and recycled in Ottawa through the Great Refrigerator Round-up, nearly 14,500 Ottawa households are now registered in the peaksaver program, and more than 1,480 small businesses have taken advantage of up to $1,000 in lighting upgrades and audits through the Power Savings Blitz program, while over $225,000 in incentives were provided in 2009 to larger commercial customers completing energy efficiency upgrades through the Electricity Retrofit Incentive Program.
In addition to these ongoing programs, Hydro Ottawa funded a 2.1 kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar hot water installation as part of the Now House project in Ottawa, which completed an extreme energy retrofit of a wartime home owned by Ottawa Community Housing, to make it nearly a “net zero energy” home. Hydro Ottawa’s Energy Conservation Events Van visited 75 community events, and made presentations to over 800 grade five students in 17 schools. Hydro Ottawa’s Companies for Conservation program, which recognizes and promotes the efforts of large businesses and organizations that are showing leadership on energy conservation, was recognized with the Electricity Distributors’ Association’s Innovation Award in the Public Relations category in 2008, and will be expanded in 2010 to acknowledge the leading efforts of small businesses as well.
In keeping with this commitment to environmental sustainability, Hydro Ottawa is working to reduce our own environmental footprint, and made significant enhancements to the company’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy in 2009. This strategy focuses on improving the company’s environmental performance and reducing its environmental impact in four areas: reducing our carbon footprint, specifically through improvements in fleet, facilities, and information technology infrastructure; improving waste reduction and diversion; greening the company’s procurement and supply chain; and building a culture of environmental sustainability throughout our workforce and business practices. Action plans are in place for each of these areas. Successes in 2009 included continued improvements in the energy efficiency of our facilities and the emissions intensity of our fleet, as well as successful verification by the Canadian Electricity Association of Hydro Ottawa’s compliance with its Environmental Commitment Responsibility Program.
Hydro Ottawa continued to support community initiatives that help to raise awareness of the importance of energy conservation and sustainable living as well. As the presenting sponsor of the Rideau Canal Festival, recognized as one of Ontario’s best 100 festivals and the Best New Festival (2008), Hydro Ottawa and Energy Ottawa helped to further establish this important community celebration of Ontario’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also one of our community’s greenest celebrations, as Canada’s first zero footprint festival. Hydro Ottawa also joined with the City of Ottawa to promote Ottawa’s second Earth Hour, calling attention to climate change and the importance of energy conservation by asking Ottawa residents to join others around the world in turning off their lights for one hour. And, recognizing the importance of the building industry in making our community more sustainable, the company sponsored the new “Green LEED Home of the Year Award” as part of the Greater Ottawa Homebuilders’ Association’s Housing Design Awards.
Hydro Ottawa also continued to work with other leading Ottawa employers to champion diversity in the workplace, as an active member of the Employers’ Council of Champions of the Hire Immigrants Ottawa initiative. Along with 33 other Ottawa employers, Hydro Ottawa is working to remove the barriers to employment for skilled immigrants, so that employers can get the full benefit of their skills and expertise.
