Name of a company! | A word we wanted to get rid of

There are company names that say it all and others that are… more mysterious. The Press take advantage of the summer to tell the origin of these sometimes very well-known names.

Seven years ago, in 2017, Gaz Métro, Quebec’s main natural gas distributor, changed its name to Énergir.

When he learned this, Pierre Balloffet said to himself: “Well, well, they’re doing the same thing as Gaz de France, which changed its name to Engie in 2015 following its merger with Suez, another energy giant.”

In both cases, the word “gas” has disappeared from the company’s identity, underlines the professor at HEC Montréal and specialist in communication and branding.

It’s no accident, he says. Gas “is the ‘fry’ in Kentucky Fried Chicken,” he says, linking it to the company that is now known as KFC.

There are words like that that become negative in public perception and can become heavy to bear, explains the expert. This is the case of natural gas, a fossil energy that the world would like to get rid of.

Around the same time as Gaz Métro, other organizations decided to adopt a more contemporary name, while maintaining the same activities. The Association québécoise des indépendants du pétrole (AQUIP) became the Association des Distributeurs d’Énergie du Québec. The Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI) became the Canadian Fuels Association.

“It is not necessarily associated with greenwashing “, the professor believes. Greenwashing, the French word for greenwashingconsists of giving a misleading image of its activities and its environmental responsibility.

In the case of Gaz Métro becoming Énergir, “it represents an evolution of their mission towards renewable energies,” according to him.

This is also how the name change was justified by the CEO of Gaz Métro at the time, Sophie Brochu. “This is a natural step that reflects the company’s considerable evolution over the last 10 years,” she explained. “The main distributor of natural gas in Quebec is now largely invested in new and renewable energies, here and in the United States, where more than half of its assets are already located.”

Energetic transition

Énergir has indeed diversified its activities over the years. The company is the main electricity distributor in Vermont and operates wind farms, solar farms and hydroelectric facilities. But the largest share of the profits it pays to its shareholders, the Caisse de dépôt et placement and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, comes from its original activities.

In 2023, Énergir collected a net profit of 173.7 million, including 113.6 million from the transport and distribution of fossil natural gas.

Énergir “still has both feet in it,” says Pierre Balloffet. The company still has work to do in its energy transition, but its name change can help, he believes.

The name Énergir, which combines energy and action, signifies a change in governance, and it is also a message to partners and employees that its perspectives are different.

In the case of Énergir, as in all cases of companies that change their name, the decision must be carefully considered. Not only does the operation cost millions, but “it’s not something you can do every year,” says the specialist.

“When things go wrong, it’s because the change is only cosmetic,” he adds.