SaskEnergy brings in $70M in profit

SaskEnergymade a profit of $70 million in the last fiscal year,according to its annual financial report.

Saskatchewan EnergyMinister Dustin Duncan said this year has been more challenging fiscally than what people have been "used to" for the past decade. However, he didn't express concern about the Crown corporation's future, despite the struggling economy.

"SaskEnergycontinues to add customers and every time they add a customer, there is a cost to that, but that is a source of revenue," Duncan said at apress conference on Monday.

Last fiscal year, 4,000 new customers joinedSaskEnergy'sdelivery system, and that number is expected to grow to about 4,500 this year.

SaskEnergyrecently applied to raise charges for its delivery of natural gas to businesses and homes. At thepress conference, CEO KenFrom said the provincialdelivery rates rank second cheapest overall in Canada, better than Manitoba and Alberta.

• SaskEnergyapplies to raise natural gas delivery charge
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Annual reports will be released bySaskTel,SaskWater,STC,SaskPower, SGI,SOCO, CICand Sask Gaming this week, providing a snapshot of how much money Saskatchewan will get from its Crowns.

SaskEnergy'sreport said market adjustments were "favourable" and increased the corporation's net income to $146 million.

The corporationpaid$29 million in dividends to the Crown Investments Corporation, the holdingcorporationfor Saskatchewan's Crowns.

Changing industry

Saskatchewan is importing more natural gas than it's exporting because of low natural gas prices, From said.

In 1988, theindustry saw deregulation and the market opened up.

From said that was partnered withmassive activity in the oil and gas industry and that allowed the province to export its own product.

However, he said that's no longer the case as the prices have been so low for the past few years and there hasn't been new drilling of gas wells.

"What we've seen is a decline in Saskatchewan production, to the point where we're now importing natural gas from Alberta," said From.

Furthermore, less revenue is being generated from storage.

"This past year has seen a period of time where the future gas prices are relatively flat," From said. "That asset is not able to generate the income that it had in the past."

He anticipates revenue from storage to rise if prices return to "normal."

Less people to lose service

More than 200 customers in the Last Mountain Lake area will lose their natural gas serviceservice come the fallbecause of safety concerns caused by shifting ground. The number of people affected was initially pegged at 250, but that's dropped to about 220.

• Shifting ground means end of gas service for 250 Last Mountain Lake area customers

That's because SaskEnergy was able to finish completing reviews and found roughly two dozen customers would be able to keep the service, a spokesperson said. The corporation also found it would be able to reroute supply through other gas mains to about half a dozen people.

SaskEnergy estimates the cost of disconnection will be around $200,000

Thenumbers in the annual report are for a 12-month period ending March 31, 2017.Previous reports were calculated across a 15-month period.

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