The province is coming out of its most recent cold snap where temperatures fell well into the negative 20’s and that means high demand for those at SaskEnergy.
According to SaskEnergy spokesperson, Jodi Woollam, Saskatchewan’s peak consumption was rather high, but didn’t quite set any records.
“Over the weekend we experienced quite a cold snap, consumption reached 1.6 petajoules a day. That didn’t break last year’s record, which was set on January 12, at 1.7 petajoules per day,” she explained.
“For comparison, on an average spring/fall day when temperatures range from 10 to 15°, natural gas consumption reaches approximately 1.1 petajoules per day, during the cold snap the heating load of our customers is approximately 10 times greater than that fall day.”
She explained that the average home consumes 100 gigajoules of natural gas a year, and that a jump of nearly 600,000 gigajoules over the baseline is enough to heat 6,000 additional homes for a year.
With plenty of winter still ahead of us – and another cold snap likely in the future – Woolam shared some advice for those looking to increase their homes' efficiency and save on heating bills going forward.
“Any home can save energy and increase their energy efficiency by purchasing energy efficient products such as a smart thermostat or by adjusting the temperature based on their schedule so that it’s lower when they’re not home.”
Alongside simple temperature control, she also recommends keeping to a regular maintenance schedule for all heating system components as well as replacing windows and insulation with more efficient products when possible.
Woollam notes that there are options out there for those who would like a better picture of their home's energy efficiency.
“One of the ways a homeowner can make an assessment is to hire a certified energy efficiency advisor, they come in and give you an audit of your home. They check the envelope of your home, and how it’s breathing, where it is leaking, and they give a full report on that.”
“Then the homeowner is in the best position to make decisions on their investment, whether it’s the windows, the doors, whether it’s the insulation, etcetera.”
She noted that, at the end of the day, any choices that lead to greater energy efficiency are a good decision, but it all comes down to individual choice and budget. Woollam recommends keeping an eye out for SaskEnergy rebates and programs that can help homeowners such as the Home Efficiency Retrofit Rebate, the Energy Efficiency Discount Program, and many others that can be found on the SaskEnergy website.
As furnaces and heaters work hard to keep our living spaces warm, Woollam reminds everyone to keep safety top of mind and watch out for warning signs of issues with equipment and ventilation.
“We always want customers to be thinking about on these cold days, to take an extra moment or two to ensure that their exterior vents are free of frost, ice and snow, and that prevention for equipment malfunction and the prevention of carbon monoxide build-up.”
The task of keeping the province’s nearly 1.25 million residents, homes and businesses warm during the dead of winter is no small task, and Woollam explains how SaskEnergy is able to keep up with demand.
“It’s really important that our customers trust that when they need to turn up the heat to keep their home – and their families – warm, that the natural gas is ready to flow, even during the coldest days of the year.”
“Often when we get asked, well, how do we do that? SaskEnergy uses localized underground storage caverns and reservoirs, and we fill those in the off season. Through our subsidiary TransGas, we store significant volumes of natural gas to ensure a steady supply.”