SaskEnergy’s gas shut-off plan irks customers

After lines replaced, homeowner thought ‘everything good to go’

Jacques Trudel is ticked off at SaskEnergy.

“I thought when (SaskEnergy) punched a new line, that was it, done. Because they put in a new meter, new line, guys came, checked it all. Everything was good to go,” he said.

The gas line was replaced after a gas explosion levelled a Regina Beach property in December 2014. Trudel thought his house would continue to receive gas, but on Tuesday he found out that isn’t to be the case.

Trudel is one of 76 Regina Beach customers who SaskEnergy has decided will have their gas supply shut off. That means he and his neighbours are being forced to convert their furnaces to run on propane or install electric heating, and buy electric hot water heaters.

The shut-off will affect about 16 per cent of SaskEnergy’s customers in the Qu’Appelle Valley, and includes the Regina Beach customers along with 62 at Buena Vista, 87 at Saskatchewan Beach, 12 at Craven, six at Shore Acres and four at Sun Dale.

Gas service to the 247 properties is expected to be shut off by early September, with affected customers receiving $2,500 from SaskEnergy to complete the necessary changes.

Trudel was shocked to receive a phone message from SaskEnergy on Tuesday.

He has lived in his Regina Beach home for 20 years and hasn’t experienced any ground shifting on his lot, as some of his neighbours have.

However a few blocks over, Freddie Rendek has felt the effects. Since Rendek bought her house in Regina Beach 10 years ago it has sunk 14 inches.

“There’s been a lot more slumping. It started with the water breaks. On this street we had 10 in one summer,” she said.

Rendek wasn’t surprised to receive notice from SaskEnergy about the gas shut-off. She has started planning the changes necessary in her house, but she isn’t sure how much that will cost.

In the nearby village of Buena Vista, Mayor Bill Dinu said the plan for the shut-off has been in the works for a while. “It really got serious when (SaskEnergy) had the explosion in Regina Beach a couple of years back. We’ve always known that that’s been there. We’ve had to replace water lines for the same reason as they replace gas lines.”

Dinu said the ground shifting has been on the village’s radar for years now, with the village council keeping track of the situation.

“This is not a new issue, as a lot of people might think . ... I think if we work at it, we are quite positive in this village that very few people are going to take any major hit,” he said.

In Craven, another customer affected by the shut-off isn’t impressed with how he was notified.

“It’s outright rude,” said the man, who didn’t want his name used. He’s been a SaskEnergy customer since 1980 and said he expects to be treated better.

He doesn’t think the $2,500 is enough, particularly if he switches to electric heat and has to make changes to his electrical panel. He can probably keep his old furnace if he chooses propane, but he isn’t sure if there is even room in his yard for a propane tank.

“If it was a danger to us, why didn’t (SaskEnergy) do something two years ago?” he said.

SaskEnergy will be holding information sessions June 15 at the Comfort Inn North in Regina from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and June 17 at the South Shore Elementary School in Regina Beach from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.