Hydro Ottawa Limited

January 31, 2008 12:49 ET

Hydro Ottawa Partners With City to Champion Earth Hour

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 31, 2008) - Hydro Ottawa welcomes the announcement this morning by Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien that Ottawa will participate in Earth Hour 2008 on March 29th at 8 pm. As a local leader in conservation initiatives, Hydro Ottawa announced today that it will partner with the City to raise awareness of this important initiative.

Created to raise global awareness of climate change, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for change.

"Earth Hour has drawn attention to the importance of energy conservation in cities around the world, and we're very proud to be supporting the first Ottawa Earth Hour," said Rosemarie Leclair, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hydro Ottawa Group of Companies." The beauty of the initiative is that it's something we can all participate in together, to make a united statement along with other world class cities about our commitment to energy conservation."

"It's often the simplest actions - like changing a light bulb or turning off the lights for an hour - that are most effective in getting people engaged in the every day effort to conserve energy," said Ms. Leclair.

Earth Hour was pioneered by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Sydney, Australia in 2007, with almost 2.3 million participants taking part, including 2,100 businesses. The initiative resulted in a 10 per cent reduction in demand on the electrical grid, and a reduction of 25,000 tones of carbon dioxide emissions - the equivalent of taking almost 50,000 cars off the road for an hour. In 2008, cities around the world are joining the effort, including Chicago, Copenhagen, and Toronto.

Over the past several years, Hydro Ottawa and its customers have been leading the charge on energy conservation in Ottawa, resulting in 62,834,375 kWh of electricity savings through Hydro Ottawa sponsored programs in 2005-2006 alone. Studies show that Ottawa is getting the message, with the highest awareness of the term "conservation culture" in the province, and the highest use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and programmable thermostats in the country.

"Earth Hour builds on the conservation efforts Ottawa residents have already been making over the past few years. We're hoping it will deliver another burst of momentum to get more people engaged in the effort. As the nation's capital, Ottawa has the opportunity to show continued leadership on a global scale by participating in this event."

For more information on how you can get involved, visit www.earthhour.org. For more information on Hydro Ottawa's conservation programs, visit www.hydroottawa.com.

About Hydro Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc., is the second largest municipal electricity distribution company in the province. Hydro Ottawa is responsible for the safe, reliable delivery of electricity to more than 285,000 residential and business customers in the city of Ottawa and the village of Casselman. Hydro Ottawa is proud to be a founding member of powerWISE®, a program developed in partnership with the Ontario Government and five other electricity distribution companies to promote energy conservation to consumers, reduce the overall demand for electricity and build a conservation culture meant to last for years to come.