Dear Tony: Our building is 30 years old. It’s a 12-floor high rise and we have limited power, but we have significant pressure from owners to permit EV charging and air conditioners or heat pumps for each unit.
We understand upgrades in our building will be in excess of $200,000 to enable the demand for additional power, and that alone has reached a climax as 45% of the owners do not want to pay for upgrades.
One owner has proposed we do significant upgrades to our lighting throughout the building to reduce our consumption but we’re unsure of the cost benefits or what an upgrade would require. Have there been other buildings that have done the conversion with positive results?
Greg P. Tri Cities
Dear Greg: Managing capacity of energy is achieved through several options. A conversion to LED lighting throughout the building has substantial benefits and a short cost recovery.
There are recent conversions in both a 15- year-old, 250-unit high rise, and a 35-year old, 88-unit low rise with excellent results. Both properties achieved a full payback of the cost of the conversion in less than 24 months. They funded the cost as a loan from the contingency fund, approved by the owners at a general meeting, with the savings in electrical cost contributed back to the reserve fund each month.
Once full payback was achieved, the high rise monthly savings average $6,500 and the low rise $2,000. The reduction in consumption made sufficient power available to enable sufficient EV charging for half of the parking spaces in each property.
LED conversions also provide a number of secondary benefits. Lower maintenance and replacement costs, increased light levels in targeted areas like parking garages and stairwells, and elimination of heat generation in common hallways. It was also an opportunity for the properties to upgrade exterior light fixtures, increasing security and reducing light glare on buildings and units.
Air conditioners alone will increase demand, but they do not run concurrent with heating systems, so there is generally sufficient power available within units for safe operations.
If an owner is granted permission to install a heat pump, it will provide both heating and cooling, and the removal of the electric heating within each strata lot will also ensure there is sufficient power.
With coordinated management of power use in condo buildings, most strata corporations have a sufficient amount of power available to meet upcoming demands.
Don’t forget, Electric planning reports are due by the end of 2026 for most regions of BC. Download a copy of: Electrical Planning for Multi-Unit Residential Buildings: https://research-library.bchousing.org/Home/ResearchItemDetails/8789
Tony Gioventu is the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association.
