'Restoring the Mandate of SaskEnergy' - Lingenfelter Policy Statement

After the brutal gouging that Saskatchewan natural gas consumers endured from our incompetent Saskatchewan Party administration this past winter, the following policy statement is timely:

"A province with abundant reserves of natural gas should be able to use that natural bounty as a strategic advantage in economic development and to shield its people from frequent spikes in the world market price. We can’t do that in Saskatchewan today, because we no longer own any natural gas reserves. Considering that its hands were tied by the Devine government’s privatization agenda, SaskEnergy has done a remarkable job trying to protect the people of Saskatchewan from the volatility of natural gas prices. During the nineteen nineties, the corporation developed a hedging and storage program to cushion Saskatchewan people from the effects of wild fluctuations in the price of natural gas. This allowed the public utility to purchase natural gas supplies at lower prices (usually during the spring and summer months), store large amounts of natural gas underground for use during the winter season, and avoid the worst price spikes of the open market.

This system worked until the Wall government began to interfere with it in 2008. Political interference resulted in SaskEnergy locking in high prices for its natural gas supplies in the summer of 2008. The result was a 20% increase in the cost of natural gas for Saskatchewan people at a time when the market price was plunging by 40%. The effects of this political blunder were magnified by a very cold winter. Now it is time to consider restoring the full mandate of SaskEnergy; to allow this efficient public utility not only to buy natural gas on the open market, but to explore for and develop its own natural gas reserves on behalf of its customers, the people of Saskatchewan."
Restoring the Mandate of SaskEnergy