SaskEnergy saw new records for natural gas consumption five times in two weeks during the cold stretch. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Record Breaking Streak

SaskEnergy sets five new energy use records in two weeks

Jan 10, 2022 | 4:00 PM

If you thought your furnace was working overtime during Saskatchewan’s recent bout with arctic air, you were probably right. Furnaces around the province were working overtime during the last two weeks, so much so that Saskatchewan set multiple new records.

SaskEnergy reported new records for natural gas consumption five times in a two-week span from Christmas to this past weekend. The most recent broken record came on Thursday, Jan. 6.

“The daily natural gas consumption in Saskatchewan in five days in those two weeks had approached or exceeded 1.6 petajoules,” said Shirley Xie, senior communications officer with SaskEnergy. “Daily consumption on Jan. 6 was estimated at 1.66 petajoules. We expect there could be more records broken as the winter progresses.”

A petajoule is one million gigajoules, and according to Xie, the average Saskatchewan household goes through about 100 gigajoules of natural gas per year. Thus, Saskatchewan used the equivalent of 16,000 homes worth of natural gas on five occasions in the past two weeks.

“We set the previous record in February of 2021 and that record was 1.57 petajoules,” said Xie. “In certain areas, you may feel like it’s extremely cold for those few weeks, but it’s not necessarily for the whole province. We can have a warm spot and a colder spot in different pockets of the province.”

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Cold temperatures blanketing the entire province rather than just select spots was a factor in the increased usage, though not the only one. Industrial usage was a huge driver of natural gas consumption at the end of 2021, while a mixture of industrial and residential properties helped set the new record on Jan. 6.

“Right now we are expecting there will be higher demand for natural gas use from our industrial customers as well,” said Xie, “including for power generation.”

A rise in Saskatchewan’s overall population hasn’t impacted SaskEnergy too much yet as their number of customers has stayed fairly consistent the last few years. And as cold as things got during the last weeks of 2021 and the first week of 2022, SaskEnergy was ready for the surge in use.

“Delivering significant amounts of energy during extreme weather is what SaskEnergy and our system is designed to do,” Xie said. “Our service is 99.99 per cent reliable year round. When we plan for winter usage, we prepare for the worst conditions a Saskatchewan winter can offer.”

Xie added that to help reduce your natural gas usage you can lower your thermostat by a couple of degrees, or try washing your clothing in cold water.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP