The price of Natural Gas can be volatile, and the Prince Albert Catholic School Division is looking for a way to deal with that problem.
During the board of education’s regular meeting on May 25 the board approved joining a multiple school division RFP (Request for Proposal) to achieve the best pricing. The vote came following a presentation by CFO Greg McEwen.
Director of education Lorel Trumier said they have used multiple strategies to try and achieve the best pricing.
“In my 15 years, we’ve used multiple strategies to always get the best pricing for any kind of resource that we need,” Trumier said.
Saskatoon Public Scholl Division has developed the natural gas supply RFP, and has invited other Saskatchewan school divisions to join in the process. The goal is to open the RFP on June 11 and close it on June 18.
According to the memo, it is expected that over half of the school divisions in the province will join the RFP.
Each school division will have discretion to choose the contract terms and specifics that work best for the division.
Other strategies that were researched by administration included purchasing directly from SaskEnergy and a contract with a natural gas consultant to develop a stand-alone RFP and evaluate responses.
“This being natural gas, there’s three different strategies that we could use, and we’re going to work with other school divisions right now in the province who are going through the same process,” Trumier said. “I think that’s going to give us our best opportunity for procurement of that resource.”
Due to the nature of the rapidly changing price for natural gas, the selection of the natural gas provider, contract term and pricing model will be made after the RFP closes. Because of this, administration requested the board give discretion on the provider, contract term and pricing model.
“I think it’s strategic on our part to ensure that we are looking not just short term but long term, so to have an opportunity to go five years is good,” Trumier said. “There is the ability to get a fixed rate in in each of those years and that may be our solution.”
The contract with the previous natural gas provider expires in October.
Catholic Division returns driver training provider for another two years
The Prince Albert Catholic School Division is staying with their long-term driver training provider.
During the board of education’s regular meeting on May 25 the board approved to continue using Darby’s Driving School as the driver education provider for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
“Darby’s been a long serving service provider to our school division and … he’ll continue to do that for the next two years for us,” Trumier said. “We’re fortunate to have a very experienced driver trainer in our system.”
The current contract expires on Aug. 31. An RFP was opened on April 20. Darby’s bid was the only one after the May 8 deadline.
Trumier said that it was the right plan to stick with the current provider.
“We always take a very critical look at who is bidding in and we weigh out all of the different elements in our criteria and obviously Darby’s hitting that mark for us, so excited to have him back,” Trumier said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
