At a 3.6 per cent reduction, Clearwater was slightly better than at the mid-point of B.C. communities taking part in Earth Hour on Saturday evening, March 23.
Courtenay and Comox had the highest savings this year, both at 9.8 per cent.
Overall, British Columbians saved 136 megawatt hours of electricity and reduced the provincial electricity load by 1.95 per cent – the equivalent of turning off more than 10 million 12.5-watt LED light bulbs.
New electricity use tracking tools are available online through MyHydro (www.bchydro.com/myhydro) thanks to BC Hydro’s new smart meters and smart grid. About 1.1 million BC Hydro customers now have access to this energy use information. As the remaining smart meters and components of the smart grid are deployed across B.C., more customers will be able to track their own Earth Hour results in the future.
Earth Hour is an annual global event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund and supported by BC Hydro. This year marks the sixth year of BC Hydro’s support of the event. The goal of Earth Hour is to encourage individuals to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics in an effort to conserve power and in doing so, demonstrate support for climate change reduction efforts.