PowerStream announces its continued support for Earth Hour

Utility marks third year of participation in annual symbolic global event

SIMCOE COUNTY & YORK REGION, ON – PowerStream, the utility which delivers electricity to several communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario, is once again asking its customers to join the company in participating with millions of others around the world in Earth Hour, scheduled this year for Saturday, March 27, between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

In addition to turning off the lights at its own work locations in Vaughan, Markham and Barrie during Earth Hour, PowerStream will once again be sponsoring a number of events in its service territory including the Barrie Earth Hour Music Festival and the Woodbridge Earth Hour Lantern Walk.

The Barrie Earth Hour Music Festival, an all ages free concert, will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in downtown Barrie (outside of Barrie City Hall), and will feature a mix of contemporary country and rock music. At 8:30 p.m. sharp the lights will go out and the Earth Hour concert will continue with acoustical performances. The Woodbridge Earth Hour Lantern Walk will begin at 8:30 p.m. from various locations in the community and will end with a celebration at the Woodbridge Pool and Arena.

“PowerStream is pleased to once again be participating in Earth Hour” said Brian Bentz, President and CEO of PowerStream. “It is a symbolic global event that our customers continue to show their support for by reducing their electricity consumption. It is our hope that participation in Earth Hour will serve as a catalyst to promote further efforts in conservation and protecting the environment.”

Earth Hour is a global climate change initiative run by the World Wildlife Fund, which calls on individuals and businesses to turn off non-essential lighting for one hour. The aim of the campaign is to express that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better.

During last year’s Earth Hour event, between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on March 28, 2009, PowerStream’s System Control reported a service territory-wide 10 percent electricity reduction. The reduction represented a savings of 88.3 megawatts in peak demand, or enough electricity to power 1,471 average-size homes over a 24-hour period.

More information about the Barrie Earth Hour Music Festival, the Woodbridge Earth Hour Lantern Walk and other Earth Hour events across Canada can be found at www.wwf.ca/earthhour.

About PowerStream PowerStream is the second largest municipally-owned electricity distribution company in Ontario, providing service to more than 320,000 customers residing or owning a business in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. The communities served include Alliston, Aurora, Barrie, Beeton, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Markham, Penetanguishene, Richmond Hill, Thornton, Tottenham and Vaughan. PowerStream is an incorporated entity, jointly owned by the City of Barrie, the City of Vaughan and the Town of Markham.

About Earth Hour Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour. In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.