The province of Saskatchewan set back-to-back records for natural gas use following a burst of extreme cold in late December.
SaskEnergy reports that natural gas consumption hit a new record of 1.62 petajoules (PJ) on Dec. 28, following by a new high of 1.64 PJ on Dec. 29. The previous record was 1.57 PJ set in February 2021.
Daily numbers for Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 are not yet available, but SaskEnergy expects them to exceed 1.6 PJ.
Despite the high consumption levels, SaskEnergy president and CEO Ken From said the crown corporation was well equipped to deal with the demand.
“SaskEnergy’s natural gas system design can accommodate additional capacity to manage increased consumption even on peak days,” From said in a media release. “Throughout the year, SaskEnergy employees inspect, maintain and enhance the system to support safe and reliable natural gas delivery in all weather conditions.
“In addition, employees monitor the system 24 hours a day to ensure sufficient system capacity to meet customer demand across the province.”
From said SaskEnergy’s industrial customers were the main drivers of this week’s record setting consumption levels. That includes natural gas use for power production.
A petajoule is a unit of measurement equal to one million gigajoules (GJ) of natural gas. The average Saskatchewan home consumes about 100 GJ of natural gas per year.
SaskEnergy measures daily natural gas consumption starting at 9 a.m. each day and ending 24 hours later.
Natural gas safety tips from SaskEnergy:
1 – Keep exterior appliance vents free of frost, ice and snow. Failing to do sue can cause equipment to malfunction, or cause a dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide.
2 – Keep natural gas meters free from snow and ice, including meter regulator and shut-off valves. This ensures natural gas equipment will continue to operate during cold weather.
3 – Have your furnace inspected every year.