By Sharon A.M. MacLean
The odds of winning green energy for a year were 1 in 49,642. The chance that the business woman who won might be related to her energy retailer? Close to nil. There’s more to this unique story than a social media contest on Facebook.
Laurel Hawkins and Denise Hawkins are salt-of-the-earth Alberta business women. The winner, Laurel, is a realtor in Spruce Grove while Denise who is married to Laurel’s nephew, Russell, owns Camrose Energy.
Both ladies were raised in rural communities which taught them to respect the earth. Laurel grew up near Strome, east of Camrose. After living in many small communities, Laurel moved to the rural community west of Edmonton where she now lives. She landscaped her home with an eye to keeping the property as natural as possible.
Denise’s great grandparents were the first polish settlers in the Camrose area. She recalls her first vivid memory of being an environmentalist in grade 5. “I can recall thinking about garbage and wondering why people throw out more than they need to,” said Denise. “Living in small town Hay Lakes in the mid '80s… recycling was not what it is now. I did question at that age the impact of all we throw into the landfill.”
It’s a yes to green energy for Laurel, too. “If we can figure out how to lessen the impact on the earth, that’s a good thing.” She likes the idea of, “Cooperating with nature, not dominating.”
The realtor considers herself to be honest and compassionate with empathy for the first-time home buyer. “I’ve been through the trials,” says Laurel. “I also like to educate my clients on all the fees,” associated with buying a house.
The mother of two sons is well suited to the task in a self-described low-key way. After working as a nanny, Laurel learned how to build modular homes on-the-job before setting her sites three years ago on obtaining her Alberta Real Estate License. Laurel and business partner, Brian Laibida, now sell a healthy roster of homes every year.
Her challenge during those early days? Energy prices and her contract.
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| Denise Hawkins, Co-owner of Camrose Energy retails local energy |
Just as Laurel was starting her new career in real estate and researching power, Denise was launching Camrose Energy. “When I saw the rates with Denise and Russell, they were lower than the going rates. I knew they had done their due diligence and I trusted them; what they were quoting was genuine.”
Camrose Energy sells electricity, natural gas and green energy to residential and small commercial customers, either on the spot market or fixed-term prices.
Denise and Russell signed on as an Energy Marketer with Nick Clark, managing partner with UTILITYnet which offered a new approach to old utility mindset in Alberta. UTILITYnet started in 1978 by partner Madeline Low to provide energy management services to oil and gas companies. When the province deregulated in 2000, they crafted a three-part Self-Retail solution for large industrial clients with these components:
Camrose Energy sells electricity, natural gas and green energy to residential and small commercial customers, either on the spot market or fixed-term prices.
Denise and Russell signed on as an Energy Marketer with Nick Clark, managing partner with UTILITYnet which offered a new approach to old utility mindset in Alberta. UTILITYnet started in 1978 by partner Madeline Low to provide energy management services to oil and gas companies. When the province deregulated in 2000, they crafted a three-part Self-Retail solution for large industrial clients with these components:
- The ability to lower energy costs;
- A method to improve their competitive position;
- A path to move away from utilities as their default retailer.
“I love sitting with my customers at their kitchen table and educating them on their electricity bills,” says Denise who wrote the company business plan in an Edmonton hospital where her husband was recovering from a severe accident. She also wanted a stay-at-home business to care for her two teen-aged children.
“The look on their faces (of her customers) when they finally understand is priceless.
“When they realize that dealing local does not mean that it will cost them more, but actually save them money, is unbeatable.”
Says Laurel: “It was easy to sign up with them.” She likes that the monthly bills are easy to understand. “The invoices show the kilowatts used and a breakdown of actual usage. There’s also a graph and history by month. It’s a nice looking statement.”
Denise, a serous gardener, also is passionate about her Community Partners Program. “Fundraising requires ongoing effort. I wanted to share with my Community Partners the residual income for their organizations.” Her four partners include the Battle River Watershed Alliance to reflect her lifelong interest in the environment. “We will be adding an additional partner in the fall.”
Denise and Laurel share an interest in home construction, too. “We built our house four years ago, an R2000 house,” says Denise. “It was built to meet guidelines of energy efficiency, ventilation and off gassing of materials. Additional courses on solar were taken by Russell at MacEwan University from solar pioneer Gordon Howell. “We knew that building a house to exceed recommended codes does not add to the cost of building a home significantly. It also was our personal house plan to produce solar back into the grid."
The house is solar ready – something that Denise feels should be code for all new construction. “People want to know how quickly until we make our money back. I often say, “‘It’s quicker than the granite counter-tops many are installing…or quicker than people’s winter holidays.’“
Both women have their opinions on the approaching carbon tax. “I would like to see our NDP offer options and choice,” adds a thoughtful Denise. “I would like to see a reduced carbon tax rate for customers who choose third party options to green their electricity. This would encourage a more direct approach and give choice to the consumer to possibly choose Green.”
Laurel Hawkins’ win means that she will receive green energy – free – for the next year as a customer of Camrose Energy through Green Alberta Energy. She will see 100% of her consumption derived from renewables – certified ECOLOGO by UL.
Stay with me here…
A Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) ensures that the environmental attributes of a megawatt hour (mWh) of green power will be injected into the grid to help offset the conventional power used by Laurel. Green Alberta Energy does this by investing in the purchase of, and retiring enough RECs, to offset the same amount of electricity consumed by a customer.
The unique system adopted by Camrose is based on letting a customer green what they can afford - as much or little as they want. The choice is in the hands of the customer. If a consumer only wanted to green 5% of her usage? You bet.
It’s all about the power of choice and doing what someone can afford. A purchase of 5% green costs about 5 cents per day for the average consumer.
Concludes Laurel. “There needs to be a lot more education, information about green energy. We need to better understand the carbon tax…and the infrastructure needed to supply renewable resources.”
Powerful advice from two seasoned Alberta business women.