INUVIK
Last year, when Capital Suites Inuvik was facing imminent electricity rate increases and heating bills were expected to double, the hotel had two options -- raise guest rates, or cut costs.
Capital Suites Inuvik general manager Newton Grey said occupancy sensors installed in the hotel will save Capital Suites about $3,000 in annual energy costs. - T. Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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The business chose the latter.
"The easy thing for a lot of people to do is to say 'Well, let's just pass that onto the customer.' But the reality is that our customers are also hurting," said general manager Newton Grey. "And so we wanted to look at exploring every option for saving without taking away from the luxuries we offer our customers."
Capital Suites looked at guest areas such as the business centre, the fitness centre, and hallways, which had lights burning 24/7, when they might be used for four hours a day.
The hotel has now installed occupancy sensors in almost every area of the hotel except inside its 82 suites, areas where lights were previously kept on around the clock -- a move that will save Capital Suites about 9,000 kWh of electricity per year, and about $3,000 in annual energy costs.
For the nearly $20,000 investment, the hotel received a $4,169.43 rebate cheque from the Arctic Energy Alliance.
"Here you are investing in long-term savings for your company and the energy alliance is saying 'Hey listen, I'll carry some of the load with you for the investment,'" Grey said. "Working with the energy alliance is something that I would encourage every business in the Northwest Territories to look at because in other places, this entire investment would be yours."
Interest in the energy alliance's Commercial Energy Conservation and Efficiency Program (CECEP), which provides NWT businesses rebates of up to $10,000 for energy saving investments, has been on the rise, especially as power costs are posed to rise more than 25 per cent over the next few years, said executive director Louie Azzolini.
About $80,000 in rebates has been provided to businesses in the NWT this fiscal year.
"Interest in the program has really picked up from last year to this year," Azzolini said. "It's quite popular and businesses are taking the incentives and making some really positive changes. Practical changes that are saving them energy."
Businesses that have invested thousands of dollars in energy reduction in the past year through the program include the Tetlit Service Co-operative in Fort McPherson, the Great Bear Co-op in Deline, Roman Empire Building in Yellowknife, and Tracey's Plumbing and Heating in Hay River.
The rebates ranged from $3,500 to several receiving the full range of $10,000 for investments of $40,000 or more.
"We encourage businesses throughout the North to contact AEA and we're eager to give them a hand," Azzolini said. "That's our mission, to help people reduce their energy consumption, to help them look at alternative energies, and underlying all of that fundamentally, to save them money.
"Ultimately, the businesses are the real winners."
Investments businesses are making include re-doing their windows, switching to more efficient air conditioning units, and upgrading their lighting systems like Capital Suites Inuvik.
In addition to the motion sensors, the hotel has also put in LED lights, and altered its buying policies moving forward, Grey said.
"We've taken on the policy as a way forward that everything that we buy that is electrical, the efficiency of the appliance is going to be primal in our decision in purchasing," he said.
