Crown strike puts SaskEnergy line set-ups on hold

In the summer of 2018, Glen Tonita began the process of getting natural gas at his business, Regina Maintenance Plus Crane and Equipment, along Highway 46 in the RM of Edenwold.

“I still have no natural gas and no date when it’s going to come in,” Tonita told 650 CKOM on Tuesday.

The business owner said he wrote SaskEnergy a cheque for around $60,000 for the new line, but there is no timeline for installation.

“They cashed the cheque, then I phoned them and said ‘now you’ve cashed our cheque when can we have natural gas put into the lots?'” Tonita said of a conversation with the Crown corporation.

After opting not to spend thousands of dollars to have the work done last winter, Tonita tried to get a timeline in May.

He was told one of the hold-ups was for SaskEnergy to get permission and a plan to place a line under a railway.

According to Tonita, when he heard about the strike at several Crown corporations, including SaskEnergy, he reached out again.

Despite some hope that contractors might be able to do work during the strike, he said he’s learned they can’t install new lines.

“If I didn’t pay my bill for 14 or 15 months they’re (SaskEnergy) going to take action,” he said with frustration. “I’ve paid my bill and I’m waiting for action and I’m being brushed off.”

SaskEnergy continues work on the file

In emails, SaskEnergy confirmed to 650 CKOM the customer applied for gas service at four properties near Pilot Butte in the summer of 2018.

With no nearby line with enough capacity additional lines would have to be installed, SaskEnergy said.

To complete the project the crown said it had to do environmental and heritage checks along with engineering assessments.

Another time-consuming aspect of the project is a nearby rail line, which the crown said it applied to be able to drill under in August 2018.

National changes announced by the railway this spring further delayed that work.

With cooler months approaching SaskEnergy said the customer expressed he only needed one of the four properties completed in 2019.

Once it was established crews would not need to cross the rail line to connect the specific property the project was assigned to a gas construction crew on September 27.

According to emails from Dave Burdeniuk the Director, Government and Media Relations for Sask Energy that work could not be completed before the strike began on Oct 1.

With files from 650 CKOM’s Erin McNutt and Dominick Lucyk