The gas distributor Énergir wants more “latitude” in the regulatory framework that applies to some of its activities. This additional room for maneuver is necessary to quickly integrate renewable natural gas (RNG) into its network, says the company.
“We’ve had the same regulatory framework for 27 years. Society has evolved, the energy sector has evolved, but this executive was slow to do so,” explains Frédéric Krikorian, vice-president of sustainable development and public and governmental affairs at Énergir, in an interview with Duty.
Last week, Mr. Krikorian took part, alongside dozens of experts, in the first day of consultations on the future of clean energy in Quebec. In particular, it dealt with the modernization of the Act respecting the Régie de l’énergie, established in 1996. Public consultations will follow this summer.
Under current law, distributors must sell their natural gas—fossil or renewable—at the price they buy it. (They generate a profit solely from the distribution fee.) This provision makes it difficult for them to set up “commercial offers” to accelerate the adoption of a particular product, such as RNG. In addition, distributors must obtain the green light from the Régie for each supply contract.
“Give us guidelines for prices [moyens]give us a goal for the amount of GNR […] and then we’ll get there, says Mr. Krikorian. I will perhaps sell less to a certain clientele, more expensive to another, and finally get the same total income. »
Énergir is required by regulation to increase the quantity of renewable gas in its pipes to 5% by 2025. Last year, it had difficulty finding buyers for this less harmful to the climateeven if it still distributed very little.
The question of tariffs is therefore central. Énergir is working to reduce the price of RNG, which is currently considerably higher than the price of conventional gas (a difference of more than $500 per year for residential customers). Remember that it is taking steps to sell the “environmental attributes” of its RNG to Canadian oil companies in a formula reminiscent of carbon credits. It would like to subtract this revenue from the rate paid by its customers.
More broadly, Énergir hopes that the Régie de l’énergie — which has the mandate to oversee and oversee energy monopolies in the province — will, under the upcoming legislative update, put the issue of greenhouse gases greenhouse (GHG) at the heart of its analyses. It is for the moment an entity “essentially economic”, indicates Mr. Krikorian.
“If decarbonizing is expensive and we just look at the impact on prices, at some point we will judge that each solution does not pass. So you have to look beyond that,” he says.
“Astronomical” subsidies
Should the cost of GNR be borne by a larger share of Énergir’s customers to promote rapid integration into the network? “I admit that I don’t care a bit,” replies Normand Mousseau, scientific director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montréal.
Above all, Mr. Mousseau wants to avoid seeing Quebec squandering its precious bioenergy on uses that, according to him, do not contribute effectively to decarbonization, such as heating. Such decentralized uses will also make it more difficult, over time, to recover CO2 from the combustion of bioenergy with the aim of creating “negative emissions”, as the models prescribe to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.
The physics professor also points out that the state subsidizes “hundreds of millions of dollars” for the production of GNR. “And even once we put in these astronomical subsidies, the cost of GNR is still high. “If the consumer is not able to pay this price, “we have to stop telling stories”, he judges.