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INUVIK
An Inuvik landlord says his skyrocketing gas bills are forcing him to consider leaving town.

Andre Oullet holds the disconnection notice and outstanding $34,381 bill he received from Inuvik Gas. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Andre Oullet was furious during a June 12 interview at the Inuvik Petroleum Show. He had been searching for Kevin Mackay, the general manager of Inuvik Gas, to discuss his arrears, which are currently at $34,381.54.

Oullet said he operates a seven-unit residential building on Alder Street. That property, he said, was disconnected by Inuvik Gas on June 11.

"There's no heat for any of my people at night when it gets cold," he raged. "The appliances still work."

Oullet said he had been engaged in a running battle with Inuvik Gas ever since the introduction of synthetic natural gas as a substitute for the dwindling Ikhil natural gas reservoir the town had been using as its primary energy source.

He said he had a high-efficiency boiler installed at the property, which was malfunctioning under the SNG system.

Outlet said the SNG caused temperature spikes in the boiler, causing burners to crack. He alleged that's because the mixture isn't consistent, causing the temperature spikes. He had been battling with Inuvik Gas over the repairs, and had refused to pay his bill until the company reimbursed him for the damages.

"That boiler don't work with the mixed gas," he said. "We tried it and they promised me they would make it work and it never did. That mixed gas don't work. I want to pay for natural gas."

That was in February, Oullet said.

Oullet readily showed his account statement to Inuvik Drum. He was further outraged by a line at the bottom that said it would cost him $19,000 to reconnect.

"I don't know what the solution is. I want them to give me a solution. They have to find a solution, I'm not an engineer."

If he can't find a way to work through the problems, Oullet said he "would have to leave town in the next month."

"That's the way it is," he said. "I cannot deal with it. I've lost my future, all of my investments because of them. Real estate is down right now, it's dead, because of the gas problems."

In a telephone interview June 13, Mackay said he was aware of the problems Oullet is experiencing and the company is trying to work with him to find a mutual solution.

"He and I are working on one of his accounts," Mackay said.

Mackay said that arrears for the company's customers aren't increasing in absolute numbers. Instead, the amounts of the arrears have increased noticeably under the new pricing regime introduced last winter.

"We have about 920 customers, and we have some who unfortunately haven't been living up to their end of the bargain here for service. We had to take some action on some of those customers to see if we can talk them into coming in and working something out on a payment arrangement."

The number of residents facing significant arrears has not increased, said Mackay. "I was talking to the office manager and we don't see the numbers as being higher than we would normally see," Mackay said. "There are some people in town who have historically been shut off in the summer for not paying their bill. As the heating season gets closer, they come in and clear up their account and start again. So those numbers don't look different than what we've seen in the past. For some people, this is how they do their business.

However, those in arrears this year face larger bills.

"The amounts are higher, but we've said we will work with all of our customers but they need to approach us."

Mackay said Oullet's problems with his heating/boiler system are unique. The company made inspections of appliances throughout the town when the SNG was introduced and "didn't notice any problems.

"As far as Inuvik Gas is concerned, we don't see problems with gas-powered appliances running on synthetic natural gas," Mackay said.

"This one single appliance seems to be having some problems, and we continue to work with him. But it's our opinion the system is working."

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