Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 20/99) - A year of planning and hard work came to bear fruit for Inuvik Gas Ltd. last week when the switch was flipped to start the flow of gas in a new boiler room behind Sir Alexander Mackenzie school.

With SAM representing just one piece in a much larger project to convert Inuvik to the use of natural gas, company general manager Lyle Neis was all smiles Thursday.

"The feeling was one of accomplishment and pride," he said, "in that we gave the GNWT the commitment about a year ago to move up our schedule and supply gas to the school and hospital. Aug. 1 was the target and that means the Sept. 15 target completion-date is on schedule."

The other buildings currently slated for conversion include the territorial-owned high school, the research centre and several Aurora College buildings as well as the privately owned Perry Building. The NWT Power Corp. has also purchased a gas-powered generator which will be used to produce electricity for the town.

Neis said that after completing the government project, Inuvik Gas hopes to turn its attention to the private market.

"Businesses and homeowners will make their own decision," he said, "though we realize there won't be enough time to convert everyone we want to before winter, but we hope to have 100 homes done by then."

The company has said consumers should see an approximate 15 per cent savings on their energy bill after converting to gas, but Neis was unable to provide any specific cost figures.

"We're in the process of filing the rate with the Public Utilities Board," he said, "and it should be going in this week or early next week."

Neis said the recent global increase in the cost of natural gas shouldn't affect Inuvik prices, mainly because the supply is located just 50 km north of Inuvik at Ikhil.

"Our slogan is the North for the North," he said, "and we don't rely on transportation and so aren't as affected by world prices."

Joe Sullivan from Dowland Contracting Ltd. oversaw the conversion work and said the contract, won through a government tender in January, has been good for the company.

"It's been a busy year and the contract produced quite a few jobs," he said, adding it wasn't necessarily that lucrative. "It was tight bidding because all the prices were quite close together, so everyone had to have a sharp pencil."

Sullivan also pointed out that this sort of conversion work also means that business will grow quiet as quickly as it picked up. But he added that Dowland has already received a lot of calls from homeowners wanting to learn more about changing to gas -- and he said the company will be keeping its eye open for more tenders.