Council presses on with cost-saving natgas contract
Despite a last-minute effort by the company currently supplying the City of Prince Albert’s natural gas to win a contract extension, council voted to move ahead with a one-year fixed agreement the executive committee recommended approving.
On Friday, Connect offered to provide the city’s natural gas at a rate lower than what France Financial (Twin Eagle) – the company Prince Albert will soon get its natural gas from – has offered. A one-year fixed contract with Connect under those terms would have yielded an additional savings of $38,000 on top of the $403,000 the city will save by switching to France Financial.
But council voted to stick with the deal that the executive committee had already forwarded last week. Prince Albert is nearing the end of a five-year contract with Connect to supply it with natural gas, and had until Sept. 1 to tell SaskEnergy which supplier would be providing the city with natural gas through the SaskEnergy-owned lines.
“We did do a process,” Mayor Greg Dionne said on Monday. “Unfortunately, this one came in too late, and we have a savings of over $400,000 and it’s a one-year agreement.”