Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Dec 10/99) - Todd Moran turned 100 last week. With the conversion of his home from oil to gas fuel, the Inuvik resident became the 100th customer of the pioneering Inuvik Gas Ltd. partnership.

Jill Finley, the company's marketing and sales representative, said so far the five contractors in Inuvik have converted 70 homes to gas and 30 commercial enterprises.

"They'll be working, slowly, through the winter and we're aiming at a total of roughly 600 residential conversions and there are about 80 businesses left."

Finley said that the price of $11.35 per gigajule for gas in Inuvik meets the company's target of 15 per cent less than the cost of oil fuel in town. That savings can be increased by converting to a more efficient furnace.

"If you increase the efficiency, say from 50 to 82 per cent, you will increase the savings," she said. "We try to encourage people that if they're going to put in a whole new system, they should increase their efficiency, too."

Even with these savings, however, fuel prices in Inuvik remain higher than in the south. Finley said there are multiple reasons for this.

"It cost more because of transportation, more than it would in B.C. or Alberta or Ontario, because we have our own well-heads at Ikhil," she said. "If a new town came on line in Ontario, it would just be connected to the existing system."

Finley said that unlike in the south, company officials aren't able to simply drive when they have to monitor their wells, they must fly or snowmobile the 50 kilometres to the Ikhil site. She also cited the simply relatively high cost of living in Inuvik that's reflected in everything from administration costs to salaries to supplies.

"For instance, oil is about 35 cents a litre in the south, but up here it's 48 to 50 cents," she said. "Everything costs more."

Finley said relief for consumers converting to gas is found in a continuing subsidy, called the Inuvik Conversion Incentive Program.

Inuvik Gas and the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development pay up to two-thirds toward the conversion cost.

She said the partners would pay a maximum of $1,350 each and that the subsidy runs until March 2001.

Moreover, Finley said there exists extra incentive for elders.

"If you are an elder in Inuvik, are over the age of 60 and own your own home, you are entitled to money over and above the Conversion Incentive Program," she said.

Finley said qualified elders can bring the invoice owned to their contractor for the balance of the conversion to the Inuvik Gas office and receive an additional $500 subsidy through Alta Gas, one of the partners that owns Inuvik Gas Ltd.