Due to the frigid temperatures hitting the province, daily natural gas consumption in the province has surpassed the previous usage record multiple times this week.
Originally set in December 2018, the record of 1.50 PetaJoules (PJ) was tied in February 2019. Daily gas consumption numbers are tracked over a 24-hour period from 9 a.m. to 9 a.m., and the new numbers were set from Jan. 13-14 at 1.53 PJ, Jan. 14-15 at 1.54 PJ, and Jan. 15-16, 1.56 PJ.
A PetaJoule is a unit of measurement equivalent to one million GigaJoules (GJ) of natural gas. The average home in Saskatchewan consumes about 100 GJ of natural gas annually.
The 1.56 PJ natural gas consumption record is due to high natural gas consumption from residential, business and industrial customers, including increasing natural gas use for power production in Saskatchewan.
An extreme cold advisory was issued for the southeast region on Monday afternoon and it remains in effect. The entire province is now subject to such an advisory.
Record-setting natural gas usage days are happening more frequently due to customer growth.
SaskEnergy’s pipeline system is designed around this increased growth, ensuring additional capacity so that even on peak record days, the system is able to provide more natural gas than required.
SaskEnergy employees work throughout the year to inspect, maintain and upgrade the province’s natural gas delivery system so that it can operate safely and efficiently regardless of the weather conditions. The system is monitored 24 hours a day to manage peak demands such as the winter weather conditions Saskatchewan has been experiencing.
