PowerStream Receives Three Honours at 'Smart Commute Awards'

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - November 23, 2015) - A comprehensive commuter program offered to its employees has earned PowerStream the 2015 'Smart Commute Regional Employer of the Year Award' for the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA), along with two other honours at the 9th annual Smart Commute Awards event held last Thursday evening at St. Lawrence Hall.

PowerStream was also named 'Smart Commute Employer of the Year' for York Region, and the company's Environmental Coordinator, Caroline Karvonen was presented with the 'Smart Commute Champion Award.' It marked the first time an electric utility has been presented with the GTHA Smart Commute Employer of the Year Award and the fourth time in seven years PowerStream had been the recipient of the Smart Commute Award for its local area.

The Smart Commute Awards recognize employer members and partners who are doing their part to encourage their employees to travel smarter, cleaner and better by considering alternatives to driving alone including cycling, transit, carpooling, vanpooling, teleworking and walking.

PowerStream, with over 30 per cent of its employees commuting to work using a smart commute method, removes at least 200 single occupancy vehicles (SOV) from the road every day, which has helped to prevent over 2000 tonnes of CO₂e from being emitted into the atmosphere since the company introduced their Smart Commute program in 2008.

One of PowerStream's more successful Smart Commute initiatives has been the company's employee carpool incentive program. Employees who work at PowerStream's head office in Vaughan and commit to carpooling are provided with one of the building's highly-coveted indoor parking spaces.

In addition to carpooling, PowerStream has developed an extensive employee vanpool program that has nine vans on seven routes providing a total of 63 employees with an environmentally-responsible way to get to and from work each day by eliminating 54 vehicles from the road each rush hour.

QUOTES

• "We are honoured by this incredible recognition, especially from an organization whose goals and objectives for commuting and protecting the environment are so aligned with ours," said Maurizio Bevilacqua, PowerStream Board Chair and Mayor of the City of Vaughan. "Over the past nine years, our employee commuting programs have been gaining incredible traction with more staff participating every year. I thank and congratulate our employees for their ongoing commitment and support to this initiative, which has made these three achievements possible."

BACKGROUND

• PowerStream was named Smart Commute Employer of the Year for Smart Commute North Toronto Vaughan in, 2009, 2011 and 2013.
• The Smart Commute Awards were introduced in 2007 to officially recognize member employers and partners who have put forth exceptional effort in implementing their Smart Commute programs. These awards acknowledge outstanding commitment, leadership, innovation and results in promoting sustainable commuting.
• Smart Commute workplaces were asked to self-nominate. An independent review panel determines a Smart Commute Employer of the Year Award winner for each Region. From these winners, one is selected by the panel to receive the top honour: the overall Regional (GTHA) Employer of the Year.

ABOUT SMART COMMUTE

Smart Commute works with employers to encourage alternatives to driving alone to work and school. There are currently more than 300 GTHA organizations -- with over 700,000 commuters -- that are designated as Smart Commute workplaces. Smart Commute is a program of Metrolinx and the municipalities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that helps anyone who is going from A to B explore and try out smart travel options such as walking, cycling, transit and carpooling. The goal is to ease gridlock while helping people save time and money.

ABOUT POWERSTREAM

PowerStream is a community-owned energy company providing power and related services to more than 375,000 customers residing or owning a business in communities located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. It is jointly owned by the Cities of Barrie, Markham and Vaughan.

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