This is good news for Quebec natural gas consumers. The increase in natural gas rates requested by energy to the energy management for 2025-2026 amounted to 1.15 %, depending on the tariff cause deposited this Thursday by the gas distributor and that The duty was able to consult.
The Régie, whose mandate is notably to approve the prices for the distribution of electricity and natural gas in Quebec, must decide on this request in the fall. Increased prices will definitively enter into force on 1is December 2025, after a provisional application from 1is october.
According to Marc-André Goyette, vice-president, strategy, finance and regulation of energy, the company’s desire is to maintain the price increase this year at a level “absorbable by consumers”.
“We see that cost, resilience and energy security are becoming concerns for both citizens and for businesses. We saw it less before, but there it comes out a lot. This is a trend that is there to remain in the long term, ”he explains. The latter, however, confirms that natural gas prices will continue to increase gradually over time due to inflation, but also because the integration of renewable gas in distributed gas increases prices.
last year, natural gas prices increased by 7.65 %. Energy had then justified this savory increase due to two consecutive winters more lenient than normal, which had led to a drop in natural gas consumption. In addition, customers had benefited from reduced prices in 2023, thus creating a shortfall for the company.
Decorate expected from the request for decarbonation
Due to the uncertain international context, and in particular the tariff war between Canada and the United States which weighs on the confidence of businesses and investors, Enerigrant expects in the short term to a drop in demand from companies in matters of decarbonation. “Right now, companies are cautious before investing, they are waiting for the fog to dissipate a little,” emphasizes Mr. Goyette. There may therefore be a slowdown in short -term decarbonation pace. This is normal because companies want above all to maintain their competitiveness. »»
Energir, however, wishes to keep the course and continue to support companies wishing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). “We are going to be ready for when the request will resume. We fully maintain our vision and our objectives. »»
Marc-André Goyette says “extremely confident” that the natural gas distributor reaches the bar of 5 % renewable natural gas injected with its network at 1is October 2025. Ditto for the objectives of 7 % renewable natural gas in 2027-2028, then 10 % in 2030-2031.
“We have already almost secured all supply contracts to renewable producers. We are really very confident to reach these milestones [jalons] Without too much difficulty. To achieve this, Energir is actively working to sign new contracts with producers of renewable natural gas, to “raise the sector”.
-Timid start for Benergy
In order to reduce gest emissions attributable to the heating of buildings as well as the demand for electricity during peak periods, Hydro-Québec and Energir set up a partnership in 2022 in order to encourage consumers of natural gas to switch to Benergia.
Strongly criticized by consumers and environmentalists, this agreement has not yet given the expected results, according to the balance sheet filed with the energy management. What the vice-president, strategy, finance and regulation of energy disputes.
“I do not quite agree with the basic premise that the results are not there,” defends Mr. Goyette. According to him, the first figures are based on theoretical potential and we should not expect a penetration rate of 100 %.
“When you launch a new offer, whether energy or in other sectors, it always takes some time before going to capture the interest of consumers, then see its penetration rate increases. We launched the residential first [en 2022]. A little over a year later, the salesperson was launched, and it took some time for the financial aid and the government’s normative code to be in place. All these elements actually make sure that at the beginning, the figures were not exactly where we thought was, but since September 2024, we feel a very interesting momentum. »»
According to Mr. Goyette, Energir currently records around 300 conversions on average per month, which should allow between 3000 and 4000 conversions in 2025, in the residential and commercial sectors. “This is almost what we had planned in our pricing file at the Régie, and almost 2 and a half times what we recorded last year. »»
Try to popularize
Recently targeted by a complaint for eco -residents by a coalition bringing together environmental, union and citizen organizations, Energir affirmed to the Duty Seeing an unnecessary relentlessness in it. The Consumer Protection Office (OPC) finally blamed the gas distributor for having misunderstood its customers about renewable natural gas which is injected into its network and sold at a higher price than fossil gas.
“On the scale of our values, transparency with our customers is really at the top. Now all that has made us realize that energy, traceability, interchangeability, are very complex subjects. This is why for a good year and a half, we have put a lot of additional efforts on pedagogy to in particular explain how renewable natural gas works, ”explains Mr. Goyette according to which energy has nothing to hide on the subject.
The latter would also like to recall that the OPC mentioned that it has taken into account “positively” all the work that has been accomplished in the last months on the Energy side, and that the gas distributor is really “very open to collaboration”.
