Power Hours Rewards Program
The Power Hours Rewards Program lets you earn financial rewards by registering eligible smart thermostats, electric vehicles (EVs), and EV Chargers for the program and reducing your electricity use during peak-demand periods.
What are power hours?
Power hours is the time of day when overall electricity demand on the system spikes. This is generally in the evening after people get home from work, when they're using the most amount of energy like turning up their heat, doing laundry or plugging in their electric vehicles (EVs).
How does the Power Hours Reward Program work?
The Power Hours Rewards program will help you schedule your appliance usage around these high-demand hours. The more you stick to this schedule, the more we’ll supercharge your rewards.
If you’re a FortisBC residential electricity customer, you can participate whether you rent or own, or live in a house, condo, or apartment.
Participants with smart thermostats
If you have an eligible smart thermostat, you can earn big rewards by making small tweaks during power hour events.
- Confirm your eligibility: Participants must have an eligible Smart Thermostat, electric space heating and/or cooling, and a functioning internet connection (see the table in the rewards section for details).
- Get ready for power hours: We will send you a reminder notification three hours before the event.
- Participate and earn rewards: When an event starts, FortisBC will send a signal to your connected thermostat to adjust the temperature by 1-2°C to reduce your electricity consumption. After the event, another signal will be sent to restore your temperature settings.
- Check your bill: The rewards you earn will be applied directly to your utility bill twice a year, at the end of the summer and winter seasons. This will appear as a “Power Hours credit.”
FortisBC electricity customers who meet the program eligibility requirements may be eligible for the following rewards:
| Device | Sign-up incentive | Participation incentive | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart thermostat | $25 per customer2 | $25 per season (winter and/or summer2 |
|
To participate in the Power Hours Rewards Program, you must:
- be a FortisBC residential electricity customer
- Note: the Power Hours Rewards Program is currently not available to municipal electricity utility customers of Summerland, Penticton, Grand Forks and Nelson Hydro.
- live, year-round, in your principal residence (any dwelling type)
- have an ecobee®, Honeywell Home™, Google Nest1, Mysa or Sensi™ smart or Wi-Fi connected thermostat, controlling an electric space heating and/or cooling system, such as:
- electric forced-air furnace
- electric boiler
- air source heat pump (both central and mini/multi-split types qualify)
- central air conditioner
- line-voltage electric baseboard heaters
- have a functioning internet connection that can be used to connect your thermostat to FortisBC’s partner software and maintain this connection throughout your participation in the program
Participants with EVs and EV chargers
If you have an eligible EV or EV charger, you can receive $0.50 every day you charge during off-peak hours.
- Confirm your eligibility: If you’re participating in a power hours event, you’ll need to check the table in the rewards section to see if you have an eligible EV(s) or EV charger (you can’t register both).
- Schedule EV charging: Schedule your EV(s) to charge outside the daily power hours (4 p.m. – 9 p.m.) through a third-party app.
- Participate and earn rewards: Stick to your pre-set schedule, and you’ll earn rewards each time. You can opt out if you choose to charge your registered EV(s) during power hours, but you will not earn rewards. When you resume your pre-set schedule, you will go back to earning.
- Check your bill: The rewards you earn will be applied directly to your utility bill on a quarterly basis. This will appear as a “Power Hours credit.”
Optiwatt for electric vehicles
FortisBC is currently piloting Optiwatt, an EV-charging scheduler, as part of the Power Hours Rewards Program. Visit Optiwatt to sign up.
| Device | Sign-up incentive | Participation incentive | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
Electric vehicle3
Electric vehicle chargers
| $25 per electric vehicle or electric vehicle charger3 | $0.50 per event3 |
|
To participate in the Power Hours Rewards Program, you must:
- be a FortisBC residential electricity customer
- live, year-round, in your principal residence (any dwelling type)
- have an EV model/year or EV charger, included in the eligibility list below
- have a functioning internet connection that can be used to connect your EV or EV charger to FortisBC's partner software and maintain this connection throughout your participation in the program
Note: The Power Hours Rewards Program is currently not available to municipal utility customers of Summerland, Penticton, Grand Forks and Nelson Hydro.
How to apply to the Power Hours Rewards Program
- Review terms and conditions
- Ensure you meet the eligibility requirements, including having an eligible thermostat controlling electric heating/cooling equipment and/or an eligible EV or EV charger.
- Apply through Virtual Peaker with your FortisBC electricity account number.
- Note: you'll be required to enroll your eligible device(s) on the manufacture's website or through your device settings.
How will my privacy be protected?
FortisBC and the vendor that manages the software platform for the program, Virtual Peaker, will have access to information participants provide upon registration.
Types of data collected for the purpose of running the program may include:
- customer account information and historic energy consumption data
- information about equipment and end-uses in the residence, such as the heating/cooling system and/or EV
- information about usage patterns of connected devices during the program and during peak events
FortisBC collects, uses and discloses personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act and our Privacy Policy.
We’re here to help
If you have other questions, email [email protected] or call 1-866-436-7847.
1Google and Nest are trademarks of Google LLC.
2We are working to expand our eligible vehicles list. If you have a vehicle model that isn't listed above, please contact [email protected] to be notified when your model has been added to the program.
3Incentive will be paid at the end of each season.
