Priming the pump for DSM

Calgary & Edmonton

Overarching

AEEA Summit

This project will engage key stakeholders in the Demand Side Management (DSM) conversation to gather input on how Alberta should move forward to further explore DSM opportunities in the province and ultimately implement it within the utility system in a way that is complementary to other emission reduction efforts in the province.

The Alberta Energy Efficiency Alliance (AEEA) have seen a significant increase in attention to the topic of DSM over the course of this project. Since the project was initiated in September 2022, the AEEA has begun a major project with the 6 AUC-regulated distribution utilities in the province to develop a proposed DSM framework for the province, have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders which has resulted in many of them formally signing-on to a public DSM campaign and have heard the Minister of Affordability and Utilities positively reference DSM several times within public remarks. The AEEA will continue to work with stakeholders to scale up this opportunity through changes to provincial policy and the utility regulatory framework to allow for year-over-year investments into DSM in the province.

This is an area that requires additional effort to reach the end goal of institutionalizing DSM within Alberta's utility system. Alberta Ecotrust has already confirmed support for the AEEA's next project to engage stakeholders and raise awareness around DSM in the province, and they are working to finalize contributions from the rest of the project funders. The AEEA will also continue to work with distribution utilities to support their exploration and pursuit of enabling DSM within their own activities. They also expect to play a role in ongoing engagement within policy and regulatory conversations with the government and regulator to help ensure that the approach to DSM taken in Alberta provides the best opportunities for generating energy savings and emissions reductions, and is well aligned with other emission reduction efforts in the province.