A program designed to give pulp and paper mills in Northern Ontario financial reprieve from high energy costs will …
A program designed to give pulp and paper mills in Northern Ontario financial reprieve from high energy costs will benefit Domtar. Two of the company’s mills, one in Espanola, the other in Dryden, will benefit from $4.3 million in electricity rebates.
The $140 million, three-year Northern Pulp and Paper Electricity program is open to mills that buy a minimum of 50,000 megawatt hours of electricity every year, and commit to ramping up their energy efficiency efforts. Nine mills are currently participating in the project and to date, $51 million worth of rebates has already been rolled out. The program’s target is to help companies lower their energy costs by 15%.
While general manager of Domtar’s Espanola mill Tim Houle feels the rebates do offer some relief, they alone are not sufficient to bolster the faltering pulp and paper sector. “This program is helping us move in the right direction,” he said. “At the same time, we recognize that we all have more work to do to become competitive on a North American basis.”
St. Marys Paper in Sault Ste. Marie, AbitibiBowater’s facilities in Fort Frances, Iroquois Falls and Thunder Bay, Marathon Pulp in Marathon, Terrace Bay Pulp in Terrace Bay, and Tembec’s mill in Kapuskasing are also participating in the program.
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