What Energir actually does (and why there's no real Customer Choice in Quebec)
Energir is the natural gas distributor for roughly 95 % of Quebec: it owns the underground distribution mains, the service lines that run to your property, and the meter at your house or business. Its dispatchers respond to gas-leak calls 24 hours a day, its technicians install new service lines, read meters and re-light appliance pilots after an interruption. Every customer on a gas main in its territory uses Energir pipes — the only Quebec gas customers who don't are in the Outaouais, which is served by Gazifere.
Where Quebec differs from BC and Alberta is that there is no mainstream residential Customer Choice program. The gas commodity itself, set quarterly by the Regie de l'energie as the « Cost of Gas » tariff, is passed through by Energir at cost with no markup. Large industrial customers can negotiate commodity contracts with marketers, but residential households essentially always pay the Regie-approved pass-through rate. The bill you receive is one statement from Energir, and the commodity line is the actual wholesale cost.
- Owns the distribution mains, service lines, regulators, meters
- Responds to gas leaks and odour calls 24/7
- Installs new connections, reads meters, re-lights pilots
- Bills distribution + Cost of Gas pass-through on one statement
- Cost of Gas set quarterly by the Regie de l'energie
- Energir passes commodity through at actual cost, no markup
- Large industrial customers can use a commodity marketer
- Residential households almost always stay on default rate
Where Energir delivers natural gas
In plain words: if you live or run a business in most of southern and central Quebec with piped natural gas at the curb, Energir is your distributor. The network covers Greater Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and the South Shore, Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres, the Estrie region (including Sherbrooke), most of the Monteregie, Centre-du-Quebec, and parts of the Laurentides and Lanaudiere. The big exception is the Outaouais (Gatineau and surrounding municipalities), which is served by Gazifere; most of Cote-Nord, Abitibi, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspesie have no piped gas at all.
- •Greater Montreal: Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, Brossard, Saint-Hubert, Saint-Lambert
- •Monteregie & South Shore: Boucherville, Saint-Hyacinthe, Granby, Sorel-Tracy, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
- •Quebec City & Centre-du-Quebec: Quebec City, Levis, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Victoriaville
- •Estrie & Saguenay: Sherbrooke, Magog, Coaticook, parts of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
- •Outaouais (Gatineau, Hull, Aylmer, Cantley, Chelsea) is served by Gazifere, an Enbridge subsidiary
- •Cote-Nord, Abitibi, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspesie have no piped natural gas; homes use propane, oil or electricity
- •Eastern Townships of Estrie outside the main corridor often lack mains and rely on propane delivery
- •Houses on heat pumps or electric baseboards have no gas service; electricity is Hydro-Quebec or the local municipal utility
No piped gas at your address? Common alternatives
If your home is heated with electricity or a heat pump instead of gas, Hydro-Quebec is the relevant distributor for about 99 % of Quebec
For natural gas in Gatineau and the surrounding Outaouais region (Enbridge subsidiary, separate from Energir)
Rural Quebec properties without a gas main typically rely on bulk propane: Superior Propane, Budget Propane, Propane Levac, etc.
Not sure if you have piped gas? Look at the side of your house for an above-ground meter set, or check the top of your most recent Energir bill for the address line and a distribution-charge entry.
How Energir's natural gas charges work
An Energir residential bill has a distribution half (what it costs to ship gas to you on Energir's mains, set by the Regie de l'energie) and a commodity half (the gas itself, sold at the Regie-approved Cost of Gas with no markup). Several smaller line items round things out: load balancing and storage, the Fonds de transition energetique fee, the SPEDE carbon pass-through (Quebec's cap-and-trade system), federal GST and Quebec QST. Natural gas is billed in cubic metres (m³): a residential household using gas for heating and domestic hot water typically consumes 2,000 to 3,500 m³ per year.
A fixed monthly amount, regardless of consumption. Covers meter ownership, billing infrastructure and customer support. About $15 to $20 a month on a typical residential account.
A per-m³ rate for moving gas through Energir's local distribution mains. The single biggest non-commodity line on most bills, set by the Regie under multi-year tariff approval.
A separate Regie-approved charge covering long-distance transmission pipelines from Western Canada or the US, plus underground storage and seasonal balancing of gas supply versus winter demand.
The gas itself, in $/m³. The Regie sets this rate quarterly based on Energir's actual purchase costs and hedging contracts. Energir adds no markup — over-collections in one quarter are refunded in the next.
Quebec's cap-and-trade carbon market (Systeme de plafonnement et d'echange de droits d'emission) adds a per-m³ pass-through cost. For a heating-dominant household, this now adds several hundred dollars a year to the bill.
A small per-m³ Fonds de transition energetique levy funds heat-pump rebates and electrification programmes. Federal GST (5 %) and Quebec QST (9.975 %) apply to the full bill at the bottom of the statement.
Energir's distribution and load-balancing rates are set by the Regie de l'energie under multi-year tariff filings, not by Energir unilaterally. The Cost of Gas commodity rate is reviewed every quarter against actual gas-purchase costs: if Energir over-collected, the next quarter's rate is lower; if it under-collected, the next quarter's rate is higher. The current schedules and decisions are filed publicly on the Regie de l'energie website.
A practical implication: since Quebec residential customers have no real Customer Choice option, the only ways to reduce a gas bill are to reduce consumption (insulation, building envelope, lower setpoint), to switch heating fuel (heat pump, electric baseboards) or to qualify for transition rebates funded by the Fonds de transition energetique. Locking in a fixed marketer rate is generally only available to large commercial and industrial customers.
Contact details: gas leak line first
Smell gas? Leave first, then call from outside. Do not use light switches, phones or any electrical device inside the building. For a strong odour or hissing line, call 911 first.
Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (closed weekends and statutory holidays for general enquiries); 24/7 leak emergency line
For non-urgent questions you can also use Energir's online channels: the gas safety and leak reporting page, the corporate site and the Energir online account portal. If you have a question about a specific marketer commodity contract (commercial / industrial only), billing-rate questions go to your marketer, but Energir still handles the distribution, the leaks and the meter.
Report a gas leak or odour
Smell gas? Leave first, then call. If you detect the rotten-egg odour of mercaptan added to natural gas, the fastest path is to evacuate the building, leave doors open on the way out, and call 1-800-361-8003 or use the Energir gas safety page from a safe distance. The dispatcher logs the address and assigns a qualified service technician.
Get everyone outside. Leave doors and windows open as you go to ventilate. Do not flip light switches, use phones, garage door openers or any electrical device inside the building.
Once well clear of the property, call 1-800-361-8003 from a cell phone or a neighbour's phone. Have the address ready. For a strong odour, hissing or anyone hurt, call 911 first.
Energir sends a qualified service technician to locate the leak, shut the service off at the curb stop or meter if needed, and assess what repair is required.
Do not re-enter until the technician confirms the property is safe. Re-lighting appliance pilots after a service interruption is done free of charge by Energir and may need a follow-up appointment.
Energir reports safety and reliability performance to the Regie de l'energie each year. Gas distribution incidents are tracked under the Loi sur la securite du transport par pipeline and through Regie filings: the headline indicators are leaks per kilometre of main, mean time to respond to a leak call, and the number of third-party damages caused by excavation. Calling Info-Excavation at 1-800-733-2167 at least three full business days before any digging on your property is the single biggest way to prevent gas damages and serious injuries.
Planned service interruptions for mains maintenance are normally posted 48 to 72 hours in advance, by letter or door-hanger to affected addresses. If you depend on gas-fired medical equipment, register that with Energir so you receive priority notification before planned work.
New gas connection or service upgrade
For a new build, a service upgrade (e.g. adding a gas range, gas fireplace or larger furnace), a temporary construction service, or any work that requires changes to the physical service line or meter, you deal with Energir. Start at energir.com or call 1-800-875-6202. Bear in mind that the Regie has approved tightening limits on new residential connection subsidies, so greenfield single-family hookups are less economically supported than in the past.
The civic address and, for rural sites, the cadastral lot number and the matricule.
A sketch showing where you want the meter set, the routing of the service line from the property boundary, and any obstructions (decks, driveways, septic field, slopes).
The expected appliance load in m³/hour or BTU/hour (furnace, water heater, range, fireplace), signed off by your licensed gas fitter.
Municipal building permit and Regie du batiment du Quebec (RBQ) gas-fitter sign-off once the in-house piping is done. Quebec Gas Code (chapter II of the Construction Code) compliance is mandatory.
Standard urban residential where a main already runs to the street. Greenfield mains extensions or remote sites can take longer, and the Regie's restrictions on new-connection subsidies may push up customer contributions.
Standard service charge plus a per-metre extension charge above the customer contribution threshold set by recent Regie decisions.
Once the service line and meter are installed, your billing account opens under Energir's residential gas rate. There is no separate retailer to sign up with: Energir handles distribution and the Cost of Gas pass-through commodity on a single statement. For new construction, consider Quebec's energy-transition context: heat-pump electrification is often cheaper over the building life and is supported by Fonds de transition energetique rebates, while new gas connections are increasingly discouraged at both the regulatory and municipal level.
Moving home, transferring or closing a service
In Energir's territory, the move-in / move-out conversation is a single call (or a single online form) to Energir. Most moves can be set up online through your Energir account at energir.com with at least 3 business days' notice; 5 is safer for end-of-month moves. Since residential Quebec customers normally do not have a separate gas marketer, there is no third party to notify.
Online through your Energir account or by phone. Give them the move date, the old address and the new one.
3 business days minimum; allow 5 for month-end moves. Same-day disconnections are rare.
On the move-out date, Energir records the final reading via AMR drive-by, radio collection or a manual visit, depending on meter type.
Energir issues a closing bill for the period up to the move-out date. The new address bill starts separately under your Energir account.
Administrative transfer only. No physical work, no service interruption. Your Energir account follows you to the new address; the Cost of Gas tariff is identical across the territory.
If your new home has no piped gas (heat pump, electric baseboards, propane), close the Energir gas account at the move-out date. For electricity, sign up directly with Hydro-Quebec or the local municipal utility. If you are moving to the Outaouais, your new gas distributor will be Gazifere, not Energir.
Gas meters, meter reading and accuracy
Energir owns the gas meter at your address. Unlike Hydro-Quebec's full smart-meter rollout for electricity, gas meters in Quebec are still mechanical diaphragm meters: there is no province-wide AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) system for natural gas. Most meters are read either by an AMR (Automated Meter Reading) drive-by radio module or by a meter reader who walks the route on a periodic schedule.
Most addresses. The meter logs consumption in m³ and an AMR module transmits the reading when a meter reader drives nearby. No estimated bills if the signal is acquired cleanly.
Energir pulls the meter and tests it on a calibrated bench against Measurement Canada's tolerance for diaphragm gas meters.
Where the AMR signal cannot be acquired (rural sites, locked yards, snow-buried meters), Energir estimates the bill. You can submit a manual reading through your online account to true it up.
If the meter reads outside Measurement Canada's tolerance, the test is free and you get a billing adjustment back to the suspected onset date. If it passes, the test fee is charged to you at the Regie-approved tariff rate.
What do you need to do with Energir?
Pick an action. The tool shows the right phone, the right link, and what to expect. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Note: under AUC Rule 002, Alberta distributors are not required to pay automatic compensation for outages. Damage claims are evaluated case-by-case on negligence.
Compensation and damage claims: the honest version
This is the section where European-style explainers tend to mislead. Quebec has no automatic, statutory compensation scheme for individual customers affected by a gas service interruption. Unlike the UK's Ofgem Guaranteed Standards (which pay an automatic amount after defined service failures), Regie de l'energie oversight of Energir focuses on safety and reliability reporting and on rate-design fairness. The regulatory consequence for under-performance flows from the Regie into the next rate case, not from the distributor to you.
If your furnace failed to re-light after a planned outage, an appliance was damaged by an over-pressure incident, or you incurred a clear loss during a service interruption, you can file a damage claim with Energir under its Conditions de service. The claim is evaluated on negligence.
- +Equipment failure (regulator, meter, valve)
- +Crew error during work on the Energir network
- +Over-pressure incident damaging appliances
- +Unplanned, distributor-caused service interruption
- ×Severe weather (ice storms, freezing rain, floods)
- ×Third-party dig-in (excavator hits the line)
- ×Customer-side piping or appliance failure
- ×Planned service interruptions notified in advance
Most Quebec home insurance policies cover appliance damage and resulting food spoilage at a low deductible. If your loss is meaningful, the insurance route is usually faster than a denied utility claim. Keep dated receipts, photos and the Energir incident reference either way. They are the only basis on which a claim can be evaluated.
Regulator and complaint escalation
If you can't resolve something directly with Energir, there's a clear escalation ladder in Quebec. The lead regulator for gas distribution and tariffs is the Regie de l'energie du Quebec, established under the Loi sur la Regie de l'energie. For gas-fitter and pipeline-safety issues, the Regie du batiment du Quebec (RBQ) is the relevant body. For procedural fairness questions you may also involve the Protecteur du citoyen.
Sets Energir's distribution and load-balancing tariffs, approves quarterly Cost of Gas commodity rates, reviews customer-contribution policies for new connections, and accepts customer complaints. Public proceedings, full document registry in French.
Certifies gas fitters under chapter II of the Construction Code (Quebec Gas Code) and handles complaints about gas-installation work, certification fraud or unsafe contractor practices.
Most issues resolve here. Call 1-800-875-6202 or log into your Energir online account.
If the front line can't fix it, request a written decision from Energir's Customer Relations group. This creates the paper trail needed for the next step.
The Regie de l'energie accepts customer complaints once you have exhausted Energir's internal process. Free, written submission via the Regie complaint form. The Regie also runs the rate-case process where service quality is reviewed.
Last resort. The Protecteur du citoyen can review procedural fairness for related public processes. Court is rare for residential disputes but available for large damage claims.