PROVINCIAL Enbridge Gas loses major customer CHRIS MORRIS Legislature Bureau May 25, 2014 Atlantic Wallboard Photo: Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal Archive FREDERICTON • Enbridge Gas New Brunswick is losing one of its large industrial customers. Atlantic Wallboard, part of the J. D. Irving, Limited, group of companies, has announced that as of Jan. 1, 2015, it will stop taking natural gas via the Enbridge pipeline that serves its Saint John plant. Mary Keith, spokeswoman for JDI, said in a statement the wallboard plant will switch to natural gas delivery by the same type of approved trucks that are currently delivering compressed natural gas to other customers in the province. “We wish it wasn’t this way but we cannot ignore what close to $1 million in annual cost savings means to the competitiveness of the wallboard plant and the people who depend on it,” Keith said. The announcement comes just weeks after the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board ruled that large commercial and industrial gas customers of Enbridge would see a 2.5 per cent increase in their distribution rates. The change came into effect on May 1. The increase appears to have been the last straw for Atlantic Wallboard which has long complained that New Brunswick companies are paying the highest gas distribution rates on the continent. “Our natural gas distribution cost is five times that of an average of other jurisdictions in which wallboard plants are operating,” Keith said in the statement. “It should be noted that this unit cost is only for the delivery of gas and does not include the purchase price of the gas being consumed at our wallboard plant. It is also worth noting that the original cost of the pipeline installed by Enbridge Gas New Brunswick to service Atlantic Wallboard was estimated at $750,000 -- an investment that was recovered by Enbridge in approximately two years through Atlantic Wallboard gas transportation rate revenues.” Gilles Volpé, general manager of Enbridge Gas New Brunswick, said he has heard only informally that Atlantic Wallboard is planning on pursuing a different energy option. “While we disagree with many of the assertions made by Atlantic Wallboard, we are not in a position to comment further until we’ve received proper notice and have had time to review it,” Volpe said in response to a request for comment. “We can say that Enbridge Gas New Brunswick is proud to provide long-term, stable energy to New Brunswick homes and businesses at rates on average 20 per cent lower than electricity or oil.” Energy Minister Craig Leonard also declined to comment on the Atlantic Wallboard decision. Keith said that as of the latest rate hearing decision, Atlantic Wallboard is paying $2.59 per gigajoule to Enbridge to deliver gas through a pipeline about 2,500 feet in length that was installed to feed the plant. “By comparison here are delivery rates for a plant of our type in other jurisdictions: 25 cents in Indiana; 28 cents in Virginia; 49 cents in New York; 45 cents in Ontario; 41 cents in Maryland and $1.14 Quebec,” she said. Colleen Mitchell, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, said she cannot comment on the Wallboard decision. But, in general, Mitchell said the problem with natural gas in New Brunswick is lack of stability of supply. “I think the big thing going forward with respect to natural gas is securing long-term, stable supply,” she said. “It doesn’t matter whether you are a producer or an industrial user, a residential user or a small business – there is a great advantage to having a long-term stable supply of competitively priced natural gas in New Brunswick. Whether that be offshore Nova Scotia, which is currently dwindling, onshore Nova Scotia or onshore New Brunswick or whether that natural gas comes from Western Canada through pipelines or up from the United states, that is the issue.” Enbridge said it was pleased with the EUB decision when it was announced last month. “This sets up the utility well for the future,” Volpe said at the time. “The rates for residential and small commercial customers are going to go down by 14 per cent over 2013 rates. The commercial and industrial customers will go up by about 2.5 per cent. When you add all that together, we are able to recover our revenue requirement.”
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 17:47:19 +0000
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