Thermostats cranked, furnaces rumble as temperatures plummet across Saskatchewan

REGINA – A new daily natural gas consumption record has been set in Saskatchewan as homeowners and industry turn up the heat to cope with this week’s bone-chilling temperatures.

SaskEnergy says the record of 1.43 petajoules was set in a 24-hour period between 9 a.m. Dec. 26 and 9 a.m. Dec. 27.

That’s seven per cent higher than the record set last winter and it shatters new levels set on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of this year.

A petajoule is a unit of measurement equivalent to one million gigajoules of natural gas.

The utility says the average home in Saskatchewan uses about 102 gigajoules of natural gas annually.

Environment Canada is forecasting a low Friday night in the Regina area alone of -36 C with a daytime high on Saturday of -31 C, and not much relief from the deep freeze until possibly next week. (The Canadian Press, CKRM)