Safe and reliable natural gas service continued to be the number one focus for SaskEnergy in 2015-16 as the corporation added more than 6,000 new customers to its distribution system, bringing its total customer base to nearly 387,000.
SaskEnergy dedicated $107.5 million toward increasing safety throughout its buried infrastructure in 2015-16. This included an investment of more than $5 million on continued system remediation efforts in communities with possible slope movement. In addition, an expansion of SaskEnergy’s damage prevention initiatives resulted in a six per cent reduction in third-party line hits.
Reflecting a fiscal year-end change from December 31 to March 31, SaskEnergy’s 2015-16 recorded income before unrealized market value adjustments was $135 million for the 15 month period ending March 31, and $88 million for the 12 month period ending December 31, 2015. This compared to $47 million in 2014.
The corporation declared a dividend of $65 million to Crown Investments Corporation (CIC), based on 2015-16 income before unrealized market value adjustments. Unrealized market value adjustments were unfavourable in 2015-16 resulting in a consolidated net income of $111 million. A continued focus on efficiency gains resulted in nearly $6 million in cost reductions throughout 2015, bringing efficiency savings to $38 million since 2009.
Considerable industrial load growth was experienced in 2015-16, with transmission volume totalling 394 Petajoules (PJ) by March 31, 2016. At the end of 2015, transmission volume had increased by 18 PJ, or 6.4 per cent from 2014. This growth was driven by significant system investments to connect customers in key Saskatchewan industries, including enhanced oil recovery, potash mining and power production.
