MEMBER OF:

• Canadian Condominium Institute

• Durham Strategic Energy Alliance

• Electrical Distributors Association

• Canada Green Building Council

• Greater Toronto Apartment Association

• Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade

• Eco Business Member

Region is charting an ambitious economic makeover to parry hard knocks to its auto sector

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew
BUSINESS REPORTER

PICKERING – Warren Beacom may tell you that he's "just an electrician," but there's much more to him than that.

The company Beacom founded in 1991, Intellimeter Canada Inc., happens to be around the corner and down the street from Ontario Power Generation's massive Pickering generating station. It's also at the heart of Durham Region's renewed hopes for the future.

Intellimeter has just 26 employees, ranging from office staff to manufacturing workers, engineers and researchers. But it has won over some big Canadian and international customers with its unique energy meters.

These devices, when used with sophisticated Internet-based software, also developed by Beacom's company, can instantly show customers exactly how much electricity they're using, information that helps them conserve energy and cut costs.

Intellimeter's customers include Siemens Canada, Brookfield Properties and Manulife Financial, with addresses as far away as Hawaii, Las Vegas, Houston, St. Lucia and Barbados. "We have not only the hardware but sophisticated software that's Web-based. That provides them with a total solution," Beacom says. "That has made the product line strong."
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April 28, 2008

Intellimeter Canada Inc.
c/o Jeff Kistner
1125 Squires Beach Road
Pickering, ON L1W 3T9

Subject: 2007 Civic Awards Ceremony
            -Monday, May 26, 2008

On behalf of the City of Pickering and its Members of Council, it gives me great pleasure to advise that Intellimeter Canada Inc. have been selected to reveiv the City of Pickering Economic Development Award for their outstanding achievments.

The 2007 Civics Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 7:00pm in the Council Chambers of the Pickering Civic Complex. I hope you will be able to attend, as I wish to personally recognize your organization for their contributions to the community. If you cannat attend, please feel free to send a representative on your behalf.

On the evening of the Civic Awards Ceremony, we ask that you or your representative sign in at approximately 6:30pm on the second floor of the Pickering Civic Complex. Light refreshments will be served immediately following the awards ceremony.

Family and friends are welcome to attend to share this very special occasion with you. Please confirm your attendance by May 9, 2008 with Joanne Finn, Administrative Assistant at 905.420.4660 ext. 2198.

Yours truly
David Ryan
Mayor, City of Pickering

Provincial initiative puts focus on individual use and eventual end to hydro-inclusive rents.

Renters in buildings are all soon going to have to pay their own electrical bills. The Ontario government is rolling out a province-wide energy conservation initiative that includes Smart Meters to bill electricity users higher rates during peak hours.

While the province recently extended its 2010 completion date to an open-ended deadline to install Smart Meters for all electricity consumers, the program is well underway (having begun in 2005).

Eventually, all tenants in buildings are going to have to pay their electrical bill separately instead of having the cost of the utility included in their rent.
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More smart electricity meters in homes now would mean fewer coal and nuclear plants later.

Mention energy efficiency to North American homeowners and painful visions of idle air conditioners, eerie fluorescent lighting, tepid showers and lumpy sweaters fill their heads. Mention the same two words to many Dutch homeowners and they think about easy, sacrifice-free savings. They also believe—justifiably—that they are doing their bit to save the planet.
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Monday Jul 30, 2007

DURHAM -- With nominations now closed, the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade has announced the names of the companies that will be competing for the 2007 Business Excellence Awards in October.

All nominees have proven to excel in at least one of the following: outstanding customer service, entrepreneurship and innovation, continuous improvement programs, community support, national and international achievements, environmental efforts and safety.

And the nominees are...

In the "1 to 9 employee" category:
- Bridal Desires
- Centre for Mindful Therapies
- Millennium Woodworking Inc.
- Proforma Synergy
- Spa Sedona
- WordSmith Media

In the "10 to 49 employee" category:
- Alltemp Products Co. Ltd.
- Bayly Communications Inc.
- Binns Inc. (these guys won)
- Dalar Contracting
- Durham Instruments Inc.
- Havana Nights
- Hilton Garden Inn
- Intellimeter Canada Inc. (it's nice to be nominated)
- Lazertherm Marketing Inc.
- Picotte Plastics Ltd.
- RBRO Solutions Inc.
- Tri-Service Metal

In the "50 plus employee" category:
- Air IQ
- Buskro Ltd.
- Casey's Bar and Grill Ajax
- Ellis Packaging Ltd.
- Nelson Industries
- Pickering Town Centre
- Sutton Group-Heritage Realty Inc.
- The Picov Group
- Watermark Insurance

Four members of the business community have also been nominated for the 2007 Business Person of the Year award. The nominees have shown to excel in either leadership and entrepreneurial skills, career and business achievements, employee and labour relations, contributions to the community, or marketing and promotional achievements.

This year's nominees are:
- Christopher Braney, Canadian Diabetes Association
- Les Fisher, The Paddock Garage
- Pat McNeil, Ontario Power Generation
- Dr. Rocky Simmons, Eco-Tech Inc.

The Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade's 13th Annual Business Excellence Awards will take place at Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility on Oct. 18, 2007. The nominees are evaluated by a panel of independent judges and the recipients are automatically included in the Ontario Chamber of Commerce's Outstanding Business Achievement Awards. For more information, contact the board office at 905-686-0883 or e-mail info@apboardoftrade.com.

SMART METERS 101

"Smart" or interval meters, are able to take multiple consumption readings each day and store the information for later transmission to a computer hub. This makes it possible to bill consumers different rates during different times of the day, week, month or year.

In many jurisdictions throughout North America smart meters are becoming a must-have, as governments try to find ways to encourage energy conservation during peak hours.

Why are they doing this? Well, each jurisdiction produces a certain amount of power. During the weekdays many jurisdictions cannot produce enough power to meet the demand of the population — forcing energy suppliers to purchase additional power from other sources. This extra power is very expensive. During the weekends and the evenings, the demand for power is at its lowest, causing there to be more power available than is needed — making it very inexpensive to supply. By installing smart meters in every home, utilities can charge different rates for power usage at different times. This will encourage businesses and individuals to consume non-essential power during off-peak times — putting less stress on the current infrastructure and hopefully making it unnecessary to purchase power from other jurisdictions.

How will this affect the average person? For many people who already are conscientious about how they consume, there will be little change. For others who have not considered these issues before, they will become educated about turning off unused lights, turning down the thermostat when they are at work and running the dishwasher before they go to bed instead of during the middle of the day — very small changes that will result in a better, cleaner, greener future for us all.

By reducing the need to build more hydro-electric plants and nuclear power stations, the government can also reduce its expenditures in the future, leaving more money for other government priorities, such as health care and education.

About 800,000 hydro customers will receive so-called "smart meters" by 2007 to help them monitor their electricity use, Ontario's energy minister says.

Donna Cansfield introduced legislation Thursday ordering the distribution of the meters, keeping a promise made by the McGuinty Liberals in the 2003 election campaign that brought them to power.

The meters will show consumers details of their power use, and allow them to use lower-priced power at times when demand is lower.
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