Year 2017 brought growth in sales of CNG and in numbers of electricity customers for Eesti Gaas
In 2017, Eesti Gaas sold 440 million m3 of gas altogether, the year before the sales were 489 million m3. The sales of compressed natural gas and the number of electricity customers have grown considerably during the year.
In 2017, business customers bought 382 million m3 of gas, the year before the sales were 430 million m3. Home consumers bought more than 57 million m3 last year and 59 million m3 of gas in the previous year.
„The decrease in the sales of gas is connected to the general decrease in gas consumption as well as the weather conditions,“ Ants Noot, the head of the board of Eesti Gaas commented on the results. Since the country’s politics favours the spread of district heating and burning wood for heat production, the use of gas in district heating has decreased. Moreover, the previous year was warmer and rainier than average according to the country’s weather service. „January, March and all the months at the end of the year since September were warmer than usual. In other words, it was most of the heating period, which directly affected the need for heat production and therefore the amount of gas sold,“ Noot added. Altogether, gas consumption in Estonia fell by 5,3% in 2017.
In the same time, the sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) made a growth jump in Eesti Gaas, the consumption grew 44% in a year. The company sold 4,5 million m3 of CNG in 2016, last year the number was 6,5 million m3. „The number in CNG sales reflects the opening of two new stations on Savi street in Pärnu and on Gaasi street in Tallinn,“ Noot said. „People also become more knowledgeable and choose CNG-cars for both lower fuel costs as well as for a cleaner living environment,“ he added. Soon, Eesti Gaas will open another station in the centre of Tallinn, on Tehnika street, and is working on the stations in Rakvere, Viljandi and Jõhvi. „Our job is to build a convenient network of stations for our customers, which would bring more environment-friendly gas cars to the streets,“ Noot said.
Last year, Eesti Gaas sold 50 GWh of electricity, the year before the number was 14 GWh. In comparison, the sales of electricity has grown 3,5 times. „The growth in the number of electricity customers is a welcome tendency. In the beginning of last year, Eesti Gaas had 4100 electricity consumers in its portfolio, by today, their number has grown more than two times,“ Noot said.
Last year, Eesti Gaas also began the sales of liquid natural gas (LNG). In a year, 12 300 tons of LNG were bunkered on Tallink boat Megastar, which is about 18 million m3 in pipe gas units.
AS Eesti Gaas is one of Estonia’s biggest and most experienced energy companies. The core product of the company is natural gas – an economical and clean source of energy suitable for heating and input of technological processes, but also for transportation fuel on the land and the sea. Eesti Gaas purveys natural gas to its customers in the form of pipe gas, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquid natural gas (LNG), this year, the stations will also start selling locally produced bio methane.
The customers joining the gas consumption receive a full energy solution from Eesti Gaas concern, starting with drafting the pipelines to the construction of the heating system and boiler maintenance. Eesti Gaas also sells electricity to home and business customers and develops energy co-production solutions based on natural gas as a new business branch. The company has 48 000 customers and 220 employees.
