Western Chapter Update

HPBAC Western Chapter Annual General Meeting

The chapter held its annual general meeting on December 7 th at Fireplaces To Go in Coquitlam, BC. Three directors have retired from the board – Cory Rodgers of Alpha Fireplaces, Siobhan Chretien from Terasen Gas and Jason Kirby of Poco Fireplaces. We thank them for their service to the membership. Newly elected are John Billwiller of Snowball Ventures and Rebecca McKay of Pacific Energy. The representative for the Utility seat will be named at a later date.

Gas Fireplace Rebate Program

The HPBAC Western Chapter Fireplace Incentive Group will meet with Terasen Gas on January 20 th to discuss tentative plans for a Gas Fireplace Changeout Program to take place in Spring and Summer of 2006 in BC. Also up for discussion will be the minimum efficiency number to qualify. If the program goes forward, qualifying P.4 labelled products from the gas fireplace manufacturers will be used in the changeout. This is intended to decrease consumption and increase efficiency in households. Terasen Gas, gas fireplace manufacturers and the retailers will participate. Government partners may come on board before the program is finalized. The program will give a great boost to the retailers and offer an opportunity to manufacturers to think about upgrading P.4 efficiency numbers in time for the program.

Burn it Smart Update

Over the past 10 months Zigi Gadomski has delivered workshops in Sechelt, Gibsons, 100 Mile House, William Lake, Quesnel, Langford, Victoria, Nanaimo, Campbell River and Darrington, Washington. Zigi also spent two days in Nanaimo at a Renewable Energy Technologies Fair with the Burn trailer and four days at Port Alberni's Harvest Fair promoting clean burning. Reid Harvey has also delivered workshops in Vernon, Penticton, Princeton and Kelowna as part of the Okanagan Changeout Program.

Skeena River Changeout

Consumer focus group studies will begin in the spring of 2006. The studies will be put together by an expert in the field, Doug McKenzie-Mohr, author of the book "Fostering Sustainable Behavior", an introduction to community-based social marketing. There are plans to follow this up with a pilot Wood Stove Changeout and Public Education program from Burns Lake to Terrace sometime in 2006.

Gas Fireplace Safety

Terasen Gas is developing a gas fireplace safety brochure with a section on child safety issues and maintenance recommendations. The brochure will be available to members soon.

Retailer Survey

We conducted an informal survey of retailers throughout BC and the Yukon in December to find out if the market has changed since 2004. We asked for their general impressions, not for actual numbers. The results are as follows:

Most stores have found customer traffic to be heavier or far heavier through their store this fall, from 20% to as much as 75% higher than last year, with an overall average increase of 33%.

60% of retailers surveyed were far busier
30% were busier
10% felt traffic was similar to the 2004 season

Wood sales appear to be up by an average of 54% with wait time for installation ranging from 2 weeks to as much as 6 weeks, averaging 3 weeks.

Pellet stove sales, sold by only half of the retailers we surveyed, were up an average of 88% with a wait time for installation anywhere from 2 days to 6 weeks. Pellet fuel appears to be available in most areas, 85% of retailers reported it was readily available in their area.

For gas appliances the market appears to be similar to last year although one dealer has sold fewer units but higher priced units are selling better for an overall increase in sales. Only one dealer has seen a decrease in gas appliance sales. Wait time for installation ranges between 1 to 5 weeks with most dealers at 1 to 2 weeks.

Only three of the dealers we contacted sold electric fireplaces and two of those reported similar sales to last year while one reported an increase of approximately 20%.