Énergir will no longer connect new customers to traditional natural gas. Its future customers will have the choice between renewable natural gas (RNG) or dual energy electricity-renewable natural gas.
This new strategy, which aims to reduce fossil fuel consumption in Quebec and accelerate the energy transition, will be implemented next spring, said Stéphanie Trudeau, vice-president of the gas distributor, during a an interview with La Presse.
The bill could increase for future customers since the price of renewable natural gas is three times higher than that of traditional natural gas. “Our contention is that society expects us to reduce greenhouse gases, not add them up,” the leader said. There is a cost to the energy transition. »
Énergir connects between 3,000 and 3,300 new residential, commercial and institutional customers per year. It will now offer them a 100% GNR solution or dual energy, a combination of electricity and renewable natural gas whose cost will be lower than all-electric and even, in some cases, lower than fossil natural gas.
“Of course, renewable natural gas is a more expensive energy, but it is very competitive with electricity,” she says.
A typical small business with an annual traditional natural gas bill of $7,360 would pay $1,400 more with 100% renewable natural gas. With dual energy, i.e. consumption distributed 70% by electricity and 30% by renewable natural gas, this customer would pay less than before, or $6,710, according to Énergir’s calculations.
An average residence with a fossil gas bill of $2,240 per year would pay $2,725 with renewable natural gas, but could reduce this bill to $1,710 with the electricity-RNG dual energy, which however involves the acquisition of new equipment.
The company, whose shareholders are the Caisse de dépôt et placement and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, believes that its revenues and profitability will not be affected by its decision to no longer distribute fossil gas to its new customers.
Hydro-Québec will pay financial compensation to Énergir for customers who choose dual energy, an agreement that has been widely criticized, in particular because the increase in the number of traditional natural gas consumers over the years was likely to increase the payment of this compensation indefinitely. .
Énergir’s decision to no longer offer fossil natural gas responds to these criticisms, according to the manager. “We’re going to stop adding [fossil gas] volumes. »
Énergir wants GNR to represent 10% of the total volume of gas it distributes in 2030. The company is still a long way off, but it is on the path to achieving it, assures Stéphanie Trudeau.
In the meantime, 75% of its RNG supply comes from outside Quebec, notably from Ontario and the United States. There are five renewable natural gas producers in Quebec who inject RNG into Énergir’s network, namely Coop Agri-Énergie in Warwick, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe, the Montérégie Biomass Processing Center in Saint- Pie, ADM Agri-Industrie in Candiac and the mixed economy company in Varennes.
Énergir ensures that it will be able to meet the GNR demand of its future customers without any problem, more of whom should choose dual energy than the 100% GNR solution. “There is no supply problem,” says Stephanie Trudeau.
It is not possible to differentiate between the molecules of renewable natural gas and those of fossil gas, which are identical. Énergir will ensure “physical and accounting traceability”, and the GNR injected into its network will be allocated to each customer who consumes it.