Celebrating Niagara's Conservation Champions

CELEBRATING NIAGARA’S CONSERVATION CHAMPIONS

Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. (NPEI) provides local electricity distribution and related services to residential and business customers in the City of Niagara Falls, Town of Lincoln, Town of Pelham and Township of West Lincoln. 

Over the last number of years, NPEI has helped many residences and businesses within their service territory achieve energy reduction through conservation.  A number of programs were offered that provided incentives and energy-savings to businesses and residences that participated.

 “Taking part in a program like this is just financially sensible,” says Dave Kuzmich, VP, Engineering at Stanpac Manufacturing. The company partnered with NPEI to replace a large number of lighting fixtures in their plant with high-efficiency LED lights, as well as to install a Power Kure unit to monitor the energy entering the plant. “That metering system allows us to see all power coming into the plant clearly and find out lots of information about the load,” says Kuzmich.

After completing similar LED upgrades at Hodgson Custom Rolling, the plant is also brighter, and safer, according to owner Chris Hodgson. “The safety of our employees is at the forefront of our values”, Hodgson says. “The lighting upgrade has been a great improvement, offering better visibility, increased efficiency and a much more reliable system.” Hodgson says the company has always tried to be very environmentally responsible, and that the upgrades helped them to achieve that goal. “It was a very easy decision.”

Lighting is not the only upgrade that NPEI would assist businesses with. At both Moyer Diebel and Niagara Piston, after completing a number of lighting projects, the two companies also installed large air compressor units with variable speed drives (VSD). These VSDs allow the units to compress and store air more efficiently. An air compressor upgrade with a VSD produces a drastic savings which can help to put money back into the plant. “We’re able to take the money we save from doing a project and put it towards other equipment for the plant, which allows for future growth,” says Gary Robson, Buyer at Moyer Diebel.

Both Gino Carlozzi, Engineering Manager and Michael Garby, Maintenance Facilitator at Niagara Piston agree the upgrades help with the long-term prosperity of a company.  “After the upfront cost, those savings continue forever, year after year,” says Carlozzi.

Having NPEI to walk companies through the upgrade process and assist with all aspects of completing an application was a main benefit to this partnership. “Having someone to help with paperwork and assist with submitting the application is a big bonus and helps take the pressure off of employees within the company,” says Carlozzi.

Due to recent changes in government policy, NPEI is no longer able to offer these province-wide incentive programs, however they remain committed to assisting customers with energy conservation, and local energy-efficiency programs may be offered in the future. NPEI would like to thank all businesses and residences that took part in these programs for their support and their partnership. Together we made a positive impact within our communities.