Chamber launches gas complaint
Poses questions on Inuvik Gas operations to NWT Public Utilities Board
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 23, 2014
INUVIK
The Inuvik Chamber of Commerce is demanding answers from Inuvik Gas and the NWT Public Utilities Board over its municipal operations.
Brad Driscoll: The general manager of Inuvik Gas, said he welcomes questions from the public such as the ones posed by the Inuvik Chamber of Commerce in a recent letter to the NWT Public Utilities Board. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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In a letter dated Aug. 14 sent to the public utilities board, chamber president Bright Lubansa posed a number of questions about Inuvik Gas operations.
Perhaps the most serious allegation was a question relating to whether the company had decreased its shipments of synthetic natural gas (SNG) to the town and was instead drawing more heavily from the Ikhil natural gas field, which the company says has a very limited life span due to water contamination.
"It is the opinion of the business community that trucks hauling propane for Inuvik gas have been substantially reduced," the letter stated. "Hence many customers have concluded that Inuvik Gas has been drawing-down natural gas from the Ikhil Well. This fuel price is sourced lower than alternatives, yet lower costs have not been reflected on customer bills."
The board responded to that letter by stating it was treating it as a complaint against Inuvik Gas under Section 51 of the Public Utilities Act, and it posed several questions for Inuvik Gas to answer.
Unfortunately, the correspondence was directed to Kevin MacKay, the former manager of Inuvik Gas, who is now working in Inuvik. He was replaced last spring by Brad Driscoll, who wasn't brought into the discussion until the last two weeks.
Driscoll responded by asking for an extension to provide a response to the public utilities board and the chamber of commerce.
He eventually did respond with a letter dated Oct. 10, stating that 102 tankers carrying SNG had been delivered to Inuvik from Jan. 1 until July 31 of this year.
That number now stands at about 125 tankers. By the end of 2014, Driscoll said the number of deliveries by truck should be very comparable to 2013.
That amounts to a little more than four million litres of SNG that have been delivered until the end of July.
Driscoll wrote that since SNG was introduced at a price of $35.44 per gigajoule, Inuvik Gas has seen decreased demand and increased costs for delivering the fuel, although he didn't provide statistics on the extent of the decreased demand.
Inuvik residents have been very willing to conserve energy, and very successful at it so far, he added.
Inuvik residents have used 46,222 gigajoules of natural gas during the January to July time frame, with 98,211 gigajoules of SNG consumed, according to the figures provided by Driscoll in the Oct. 10 letter.
In an e-mail dated Oct. 17, Lubansa said he was "just speaking with the members to get their feedback on the response we get," and asked for an interview to be delayed until he had a chance to process that information.
The public utilities board has given the chamber until Oct. 24 to decide whether it wishes to continue with a formal complaint following Driscoll's letter.
Driscoll said he is waiting to hear whether the chamber will proceed further with the matter and make it an official complaint.
Lubansa could not be reached for comment.
