The residents of Saskatchewan have set a new record for natural gas consumption – the second time in the span of just over a week. 

Friday, SaskEnergy reported that the 24-hour period ending at 9:00 a.m. that day saw 1.66 petajoules (PJ) of natural gas being used. A petajoule is a unit of measurement equivalent to one million gigajoules of natural gas. The average home in Saskatchewan uses around 100 gigajoules a year. 

“When we plan for winter usage, we prepare for the worst conditions a Saskatchewan winter can offer,” SaskEnergy President and CEO Ken From said. “This means we can provide residents and businesses with the natural gas that they will need on any given day of the year. Delivering significant amounts of energy during some of the most extreme weather is what our system is designed to do, providing the natural gas our customers need with 99.99 per cent reliability.” 

Prior to the rash of records being set during the cold snap, the record was 1.57 petajoules back in February of 2021. In the past two weeks, the natural gas usage of the province has exceeded 1.6 petajoules five times.  

SaskEnergy recommends a few steps to help conserve energy and save on bills during the coldest days of the year. This includes changing the furnace filter every month or two to help the furnace run efficiently; lowering the temperature in the house at night and when not at home; and switching the washing machine to cold-water loads, as up to 90 percent of the energy used to wash clothes is just heating the water.