Hydroelectricity? Two-tier rate structure? Energy-efficient appliances? Probably not phases you’d focus on when learning to speak English, but important for understanding your utility bill.
That’s the idea behind an outreach program launched by BC Hydro focused on helping new Canadians understand their electricity bills, including a seminar that visited Squamish last week.
“We understand that it will be really challenging to come to a new place and everything is new. You need to pick up that information piece by piece, and it’s very challenging,” said Janet Zhu, a community team member with BC Hydro.
“It’s also a very good chance to learn different terms regarding electricity usage. If they want to deal with outside service providers, they know what they are talking about. They know the different terms.”
On Nov. 21 and 23, students in Squamish attended the seminar at the Immigrant Services Society of BC. The workshop was meant to help explain how to use online tools to check consumption, calculate rates, conserve energy and access assistance programs.
One-on-one coaching was also provided on how to use things like the energy saving kit tools and how to use MyHydro online.
Zhu said the outreach, which is aimed at many different demographics throughout the year, is meant to help people cut down on their energy bill and save electricity.
“It’s another way we can reach out to all the families in BC and help them to reduce their energy cost,” she said. “Behavioural change is a big part of that, education is just as important as providing the tools to help people.”
The November event is part of a larger series of seminars through a partnership with immigration and language centres in the Lower Mainland and Victoria. In areas where there are no community team members, such as Powell River, video conferences have been organized.
While the Squamish event was aimed at English speakers, the program can also be customized for delivery in Cantonese, Arabic and Mandarin.
Even when the program is in English, the in-person instruction can be customized to the group. “We can also adapt our delivery, the vocabulary and the speech speed, according to their language proficiency,” said Zhu.
Many homeowners are also business owners, so a lot of the advice isn’t limited to inside the home, according to Zhu.
“It gave them a lot to think about on how they can reduce consumption,” she said.
