Demand side management is the process of managing the demand for power from our customers. It is an affordable, relatively quick and environmentally friendly alternative that helps us bridge the gap between power demand and power supply.
Demand side management provides opportunities for customer self-generation and introduces load management initiatives, such as net metering. Net metering refers to the offsetting of a customer's electricity consumption against that same customer's production of environmentally responsible electricity. Through programs such as net metering, demand side management is taking an even more prominent role in our efforts to reduce the need to build new generation sources and the associated infrastructure.
Demand side management includes energy efficiency, conservation and altered patterns of electricity use. Through our portfolio of energy efficiency, load management and conservation programs, we're working closely with customers to reduce and adjust electricity use, which will lessen the overall demand for power. And that means there's less of an impact on the environment and a reduced economic requirement for financing infrastructure.
By 2017, it's expected that our company's energy-efficiency programming will deliver 100 MW of savings. Overall, it's estimated that 10-15 per cent of energy savings can be expected from the industrial market, 50-60 per cent from the commercial market, 30-35 per cent from the residential market and up to 10 per cent from customer self-generation using renewable fuel sources.
