Power

Vital Statistics: Power Distribution & Generation

Industry Report >

Will This Spark Fly?

When it comes to Alberta’s retail market for electricity, competition isn’t working as well as some had hoped. One group of entrepreneurs thinks it’s time for some co-operation >

Power From The People: Will Enmax’s Plan for Distributed Generation Take Off?

Enmax envisions a city powered by thousands of small generators. But will Calgary’s city-owned utility be able to wean the city off big, centralized power plants? >

The Power of Conservation

A Western Canadian startup could help cut big users’ electrical bills by double digits >

Speaking to Power

How female leaders rose above gender to storm the glass ceiling, and what they see for the next generation >

The Coal Question

Regarded as a dirty fuel of the past, coal is experiencing a turnaround in Alberta, repositioning to become a gateway to the epoch of clean energy as a companion and competitor to trendier natural gas, wind and solar power.
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Don Lowry

Don Lowry – President and CEO, EPCOR Utilities Inc.

Managing operating assets of $2.1 billion, in a year where energy deregulation has turned the province upside-down, EPCOR president and CEO Don Lowry remains focused on an aggressive growth plan that will see the essential services firm double the size of earnings over the next 10 years.
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Dan Macnamara

Dan Macnamara – Executive Director, Industrial Power Consumers and Cogenerators Association of Alberta

When Dan Macnamara stands up and shouts “power to the people” you can’t help but take him literally.
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John Davies

John Davies – Vice-President, Engineering and Operations, Lethbridge Iron Works Co. Ltd.

John Davies is the patriarch of a 104-year-old family business, Lethbridge Iron Works Co. Ltd. Innocently enough last winter he took on another job : anti-deregulation crusader.

Faced with power bills that doubled from $60,000 a month, Davies spoke out loudly and articulately and helped make electricity deregulation a major issue in the spring provincial election campaign. “We’ve controlled the destiny of our company for a hundred years, then along comes something that blindsides us and that we have no control over. I think this is my way to gain back some control, to give a voice to consumers.”

Davies is secretary and treasurer of the Industrial Association of Southern Alberta and is a member of APEGGA, Canadian Foundry Association and the American Foundrymen’s Society. He also sits on several electricity deregulation committees, including: City of Lethbridge Electric Oversight Committee; Alberta Advisory Council on Electricity; Electric Utilities Act Advisory Committee; Retail Issues Sub-Committee; and Market Achievement Plan (MAP2) Committee.

Yearbook: The Brain is a good friend. . .there”s a bright future ahead.

Given the number of years Lethbridge Iron Works has been operating in the province (since 1898), what kind of unique perspective do you bring to the energy deregulation issue? We’re representing the smaller industry, guys that quite frankly have been forgotten in this process. We’re a smaller business that’s locally controlled and I can and do speak my mind. I”m an electrical engineer and an MBA. I understand business and economics and I’m a consumer of electricity. There’s no doubt in my mind that after I spoke up at his fundraising dinner in Lethbridge, Premier Klein woke up to the issue. His office phoned and asked me for information and now it’s turned into my full-time job. I’m on six committees and have travelled more in the past six months than I have in my entire career. There is no way deregulation will benefit consumers over the next five years, but I want to see this be the best it can be. It will take a long time for consumers to recoup their losses.

Major influence: My parents and my children have guided my life. My parents taught me the value of education, hard work, and encouraged me to be independent and to make decisions. For the first 10 years of my career, work was the central focus for me. The arrival of my children has changed that. Russell is seven, Colleen is five, and they have shown me there is far more to life than work. Seeing the world through their eyes is pure joy. My children can always bring a smile to my face, no matter how the workday went.