“We’re very pleased with the progress we’re seeing in energy efficiency across the country,” said Ken Elsey, president and CEO of CEEA. “This is the first year that we’ve seen three provinces receive a grade of A+, and most jurisdictions have either improved or maintained their previous score.”

Report Card highlights include three A+ grades for Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, and three Most Improved jurisdictions: Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Nunavut. Alberta scored a B+ up from the D+ they received in 2007. PEI moved from a D to a B, and Nunavut from a C to a B.

Some of the provinces that saw a drop in their score included British Columbia, going from an A+ to an A, Saskatchewan from a B+ to a B-, and the Northwest Territories moved from a B+ to a C. This year’s scores reflect activities occurring between January 2008 and December 2009.

“British Columbia should be commended for their exceptional energy efficiency efforts over the last couple of years, but it’s hard to maintain an A+, the competition amongst the top provinces is significant—the bar is being constantly raised,” Elsey commented. “It’s great to see Alberta jump from a D+ to a B+; that’s a huge improvement, and something Alberta must be congratulated for. We expect the leader in energy production to set the example for energy efficiency in the future! We’ve been hoping for this since the first Report Card was released 10 years ago.”

The federal government scored a B+ in the Report Card, a mark that Elsey claims was attributed to the effort put forth by the federal government through their ecoEnergy program.

“The ecoEnergy program was a tremendously successful program and showed real leadership, it has helped motivate the provinces and territories. They have a solid team of professionals on staff ready to do more—we’re just waiting for the political will to move energy efficiency into the high priority category,” Elsey said. “With the rising cost of energy and increased environmental concerns, Canadians expect all levels of government to take action on energy efficiency—the federal government has an important role in this. Their support of conservation initiatives will continue to be essential if Canada is to achieve energy sustainability in the future.”

This marks the 10th year that CEEA has evaluated federal, provincial and territorial government’s energy efficiency activities. With energy becoming more expensive, with its impact on the environment and the economic opportunity that comes with a sustainable energy plan—it is an increasingly critical part of the government’s responsibility.

CEEA’s bi-annual Report Card evaluates federal, provincial, and territorial governments on their energy efficiency performance across a number of key parameters; how each province has kept promises made at the Council of the Federation meeting (July 2008), the effectiveness of their own programs, initiatives in transportation, support for energy efficiency in building codes and product standards, how the jurisdictions supported energy efficiency and public outreach, the existence of public/private partnerships to support energy efficiency initiatives, and creation of energy efficiency acts, amongst others.

“Since our first Report Card released in 1999, CEEA has seen a great improvement in energy efficiency measures across the country. We can only hope that the trend to achieving A+ will continue. As Canada’s energy consumption continues to rise, and with supply dwindling, conservation and efficiency are crucial issues for all Canadians,” said Elsey. “This report shows Canadians how well their elected officials and senior bureaucrats are dealing with this issue.”

CLICK HERE to download the Report Card, which includes additional commentary.