Énergir vigorously defends itself from misleading its customers who pay more for renewable natural gas (RNG) present in minute quantities in its network. The gas distributor recognizes, however, that it could make an additional communication effort in order to be better understood by the population.
Énergir’s Executive Vice-President, Stéphanie Trudeau, says she is “flabbergasted” by the accusations of greenwashing brought by the Sortons le gaz coalition! at the location of the gas distributor. “I’m really bitterly disappointed with this release, especially since many of these speakers are very familiar with how it works,” she replied.
Some customers, who believed in good faith that they would receive renewable natural gas at home by subscribing to Énergir’s offer, later realized that they were paying three times as much for the same 99% fossil gas delivered to their neighbors at the ordinary rate and asked to be reimbursed.
It is not possible to differentiate between the molecules of renewable natural gas and those of fossil gas, which are identical. Customers are supplied with the same product, routed through the same pipe, which is clearly explained on the Énergir website, underlines Stéphanie Trudeau.
Énergir’s approach to greening its activities by gradually injecting renewable gas into its network is the same that is known and accepted around the world. “We are not going to build another distribution network for renewable natural gas”, specifies Stéphanie Trudeau, adding that the important thing is not to sell more RNG than we can put in the network, which which is rigorously monitored and accounted for by the Bureau de normalization du Québec and the Régie de l’énergie.
The 1% share of RNG in the total volume of gas distributed by Énergir represents a lot of renewable natural gas, a quantity greater than current demand. The distributor therefore has enough to offer its residential and industrial customers to convert 10%, 30% or 100% of their fossil natural gas consumption into RNG.
The current price of RNG, which is three times higher than that of fossil natural gas, corresponds to the average price of RNG purchased by Énergir from different sources. The RNG from the Énergir network comes from biomethanation plants and landfills.
Currently, 1484 Énergir customers have agreed to pay more for RNG. The most popular option is the 30% option, which 549 customers have opted into.