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Toronto Hydro Greens It and Means It: Named One of Canada's Greenest Employers

    TORONTO, April 17 /CNW/ - Toronto Hydro Corporation (Toronto Hydro) is
recognized by Maclean's as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2009.
Toronto Hydro is honoured to be listed with several other leading
organizations who believe that we should be protecting the environment in
which we live and work.
    "This recognition makes the success of Toronto Hydro's programs even
sweeter. We've been able to significantly reduce electricity demand in
Toronto," said Toronto Hydro's President and CEO, David O'Brien.
    Officially launched in 2007, the Canada's Greenest Employers (formerly
Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers) competition recognizes the employers
that lead the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness in their
organizations.
    For this competition, Toronto Hydro was evaluated on its earth-friendly
initiatives and programs; the success of these initiatives and programs; and
the extent to which these initiatives and programs have become linked to the
company's identity. In 2005, Toronto Hydro began to ambitiously spearhead
electricity conservation programs in support of the Province's goal of
creating a 'conservation culture' in Ontario. Since then, Toronto Hydro has
reduced demand in the City of Toronto by approximately 386 megawatts and
helped customers save an estimated 549,000,000 kilowatt-hours.
    The company has introduced numerous internal programs to reduce its own
electricity consumption and environmental footprint. These programs range from
extensive recycling programs to incentives for employees to use public
transit. Further, Toronto Hydro has converted a number of fleet vehicles to
run on bio-diesel and ethanol, maintains one of the city's largest solar
panels, and installed the first urban wind turbine in North America in a joint
venture with Windshare, a community co-operative.Since 2006, Toronto Hydro's programs have included:

    -   the Summer Challenge for business customers and Summer Savings for
        residential customers. Under both programs Torontonians were asked to
        conserve their summer electricity usage by 10 per cent in return for
        a 10 per cent credit on their bill. This program ran in 2006 and
        2007;

    -   Take a Load off Toronto, a program that promoted the use of outdoor
        clotheslines to encourage customers to reduce dryer use in 2008.
        Toronto Hydro gave away 75,000 free clotheslines;

    -   the Festive Light Exchange program had customers exchange their
        inefficient lights to receive a new string of LED lights; and

    -   the peaksaver® demand reduction program for both residential and
        business customers where customers are rewarded for allowing Toronto
        Hydro to reduce the amount of electricity that air conditioners and
        other key equipment use during summer peak hours.Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited is the regulated "wires" affiliate
and is one of the largest municipal electric distribution utilities in Canada,
delivering electricity to a broadly diversified, economically robust,
residential, commercial and industrial customer base in the City of Toronto.
The utility serves more than 684,000 customers.