Switch from natural gas to electricity hits Regina Beach couple hard

James Misfeldt made the transition from natural gas to electricity after shifting ground rendered his Regina Beach, Sask., home unsafe for gas lines.

It's a switch that's putting serious financial strain on his family.

"Heating the home by electricity is very expensive compared to the heating by natural gas," Misfeldt said.

Now, hundreds more residents in the Last Mountain Lake area will be making the same switch as Misfeldt did, as the utility moves to cut its natural gas service for the same reason.

• Shifting ground means end of gas service for 250 Last Mountain Lake area customers
• Up the creek: Regina Beach, Sask., homeowners desperate for support for slumping properties

The number of customers affected in the area breaks down as:

Buena Vista — 62.
Craven — 12.
Regina Beach — 76 (less than six per cent of that community).
Saskatchewan Beach — 87.
Shore Acres — 6.
Sundale — 4.

Customers with service less than 10 years old will be proportionally reimbursed.

Last Mountain Lake customers losing natural gas service

On Tuesday, SaskEnergy announced it was permanently removing natural gas infrastructure in the Last Mountain Lake area for some customers by the time Labour Day rolls around, earlier if shifting ground conditions worsen. 

The 247 properties represent 16 per cent of SaskEnergy's customer base in the area.

Ryan Luedtke owns property in Buena Vista and in Regina Beach. As of Thursday, he hadn't heard from the utility yet.

"Everyone is texting me to see if I am one of them and I ran into a friend's father, he lives out at Sask beach, he's having to get changed so he's stressed out about it," he said. 

"Everyone's wanting to know if I'm one of them and I don't know I just read about it last night."

Bill Dinu is the mayor of Buena Vista and said that residents' safety is paramount.

"We can't endanger our residents. If there's anything that will cause this to change quickly with the potential to blow up a house or kill a resident that's just not acceptable at all."

A group of property owners are currently suing the utility after an explosion in December 2014, which SaskEnergy said was caused by a natural gas leak. 

At least one home was destroyed and other properties were damaged.

Costly switch

Each resident will receive $2,500 from SaskEnergy to make the switch from natural gas to another fuel source.

However, that payment helped but didn't entirely cover the costs, Misfeldt said.

Misfeldt explained the option to switch to propane wasn't available for him due to the slumping ground around his home.

He offered this advice to folks needing to make the transition: "When you switch over to electricity, you really have to do the research as to how you can efficiently heat your home with electric heat."

Misfeldt estimates the cost of heating his home through natural gas was about $250 a month. When the switch was made to electricity, the cost ballooned to about $400 a month in instalment payments to SaskPower.

"I guess we're behind," he said of the payments. "In order for us to keep up with the cost of heating our home with the electric furnace, we would be making $600 payments to, by the end of the year, equalize our payments."

About a year before the switch, Misfeldt said he and his wife bought a furnace, which is now useless. But they're still paying it off.