Diversified business
Énergir, with consolidated assets of over $11 billion, is a diversified energy business whose mission is to meet the energy needs of its 540,000 customers and their communities.
It’s Quebec’s leading distributor of natural gas and also produces wind power through joint ventures. Operating in the United States through an array of subsidiaries and partnerships, Énergir produces hydro-, wind, and solar power and is the state of Vermont’s leading distributor of electricity and sole distributor of natural gas.
It also provides a variety of other energy services through its subsidiaries.
Énergir is striving to be the ideal partner anyone and everyone who wants to move the energy transition forward.
Énergir
Énergir provides about 97% of Quebec’s natural gas—some 211,000 customers in more than 330 municipalities with a distribution system 11,000 kilometres in length. It maintains a diverse portfolio of transportation and storage assets to serve those customers. Énergir holds transmission capacity rights on the TC Energy and Enbridge Gas system to bring natural gas from western Canada or Dawn, Ontario, to Énergir’s exclusive service area. It also maintains enough contracted and owned storage capacity to deal with fluctuations in consumption. The contracted storage capacity is in Quebec and at Dawn. Énergir either purchases natural gas to supply to its customers or gets it from customers who prefer to shop for it themselves. Énergir’s supply plan is submitted to the Régie de l’énergie du Québec for approval each year.
The distribution of natural gas in Quebec is regulated by the Régie de l’énergie, whose main responsibility is to set and adjust the rates and conditions applicable to the supply, transmission, storage and delivery of natural gas by distributors. It also oversees distributor operations, sets the rate of return, authorizes investments, reviews consumer complaints and sets the terms and conditions for distributors building facilities in a municipality.
Green Mountain Power
Green Mountain Power (GMP)is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir and the largest electrical distributor in the state of Vermont. It controls 76% of the market and serves more than 275,000 customers. GMP produces, transports, distributes, buys and sells electricity while providing related electrical distribution services in Vermont. Other operations include electricity transmission in New Hampshire and some smaller-scale electrical production in New York, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. The GMP grid is made up of more than 2,750 km of overhead transmission lines and 19,800 km of distribution lines—17,150 km overhead and 2,650 km underground—mostly in Vermont but extending into New Hampshire and New York as well. It has 40 small hydroelectric facilities throughout New England and the 69 MW Kingdom Community Wind Farm in Lowell, Vermont.
GMP’s territory includes about two thirds of the state of Vermont. Although it produces part of the electricity it distributes, GMP buys most of the electricity required to supply its customers under numerous short- and long-term purchase agreements. Its supply portfolio includes various generation sources, the main ones being hydroelectricity, nuclear energy, other renewable energy sources including solar energy, and regional energy system purchases.
GMP is subject to VPCU regulations. Electricity rates are reviewed and approved annually by the VPUC and are established using a cost-of-service approach as part of an alternative multi-year regulatory regime. This allows GMP to establish its revenue in a manner that recovers the anticipated costs of servicing customers, with the exception of certain items not included in the rates. The annual revision and approval of base rates by the VPUC includes forecast supply costs and projections of operating revenues, which are then adjusted on a quarterly basis based on actual sales and supply costs using rate adjustment mechanisms in place.
Vermont Gas Systems
Vermont Gas Systems (VGS), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir, is the only natural gas distribution company in the State of Vermont. It owns and operates a natural gas transportation and distribution system of over 1,600 km in the State of Vermont in the United States. VGS serves more than 55,000 customers, mainly in the residential and commercial markets. VGS procures its natural gas supply almost exclusively from Canada. It is regulated by the Vermont Public Utility Commission (VPUC). The pricing of its activities is determined using a cost-of-service approach as part of an alternative multi-year regulatory regime. This allows VGS to establish its revenue in a manner that recovers the anticipated costs of servicing its customers, with the exception of certain items not recovered through rates, and to provide the opportunity to earn a reasonable return through rates.
Énergir holds interests in two natural gas transportation companies, namely Trans Québec & Maritimes Pipeline (TQM) and Champion Pipeline.
Trans Québec & Maritimes Pipeline Inc.
Énergir has an indirect 50% interest in TQM, which operates in Quebec a pipeline connected upstream to that of TC Energy and downstream to that of Portland Natural Gas Transmission (PNGTS) and Énergir’s system. Its activities are regulated by the Canadian Energy Regulator.
Champion Pipeline
Champion Pipeline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir, operates two natural gas pipelines that cross the Ontario border and feed Énergir’s distribution network in Northwestern Quebec. Champion’s activities are regulated by the Canadian Energy Regulator.
This sector includes unregulated energy production activities arising from the Seigneury of Beaupré wind farms as well as Green Mountain Power operations.
Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms
Wind farms 2 and 3
Wind farms 2 and 3 is a joint venture owned equally by Boralex and Beaupré Éole, the latter indirectly owned by Énergir (51%) and by Énergir Development Inc. (49%). The joint venture’s main activities are to own and operate two wind farms consisting of 126 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 272 megawatts on the private lands of the Seigneurie de Beaupré. They were commissioned in December 2013, and all the electricity generated is sold to Hydro-Québec under 20-year contracts.
Wind farm 4
Wind farm 4 is a joint venture owned equally by Boralex and Beaupré Éole 4, the latter indirectly owned by Énergir (51%) and by Énergir Development Inc. (49%). The joint venture’s main activities are to own and operate one wind farm consisting of 28 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 68 megawatts on the private lands of the Seigneurie de Beaupré. It was commissioned in December 2014, and all the electricity generated is sold to Hydro-Québec under a 20-year contract.
Green Mountain Power
GMP owns two 69 MW wind farms and about 39 MW of solar power in the United States and 40 hydroelectric plants producing 4,083 GWh in New England, and produces renewable natural gas generating 13.5 kWh of electricity annually from cattle manure.
Gaz Métro LNG Inc.
Gaz Métro LNG, a subsidiary of Énergir, develops liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and marketing activities. Its objective consists in structuring LNG supply and market the LNG produced using the infrastructure of Énergir’s LSR plant. Gaz Métro LNG’s initiatives include:
- developing the LNG market as a marine fuel;
- using LNG to replace fuel oil or propane in industrial and mining markets;
- selling LNG to a U.S. broker who resells to other customers during peak periods; and
- Developing the US market: prospecting for new customers and maintaining current contractual relationships.
Gaz Métro Solutions Transport (GMST)
GMST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir, aims to develop the market for natural gas in liquefied or compressed form as a fuel to replace diesel in the heavy transportation sector. It leads this field in Quebec, providing integrated LNG refuelling services for the industrial, highway and marine sectors. It also provides a LNG equipment maintenance service for industrial customers. GMST is also an important player in the operation of LNG fuelling stations for the transportation industry between Lévis and Mississauga.
Énergir Urban Heating and Cooling (Énergir ÉUHC)
ÉUHC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir, owns and operates three separate systems of steam, hot water and chilled water used for heating, hot water requirements and cooling of office towers, shopping centres, hotels, railway stations, campuses and high-end apartments. Its network spans 4.8 km and serves nearly 2 million square metres of commercial space in downtown Montréal, meeting a third of its energy needs.
Storage
Intragaz, a wholly owned subsidiary of Énergir, operates the only two underground natural gas storage tanks located in Quebec, on Énergir’s territory, which is also its only customer, and its rates are approved by the Regulator. Intragaz’s pricing is determined using a cost-of-service approach.
Building our energy future together
Always on the move, Énergir continues to forge ahead, offering diversified solutions and expertise to its customers and communities to help reduce Quebec’s carbon footprint. Because we’re committed to moving forward together in the energy transition.