Squamish is likely to see the same increase in gas prices over the next few days as Vancouver, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com says.
Analyst Dan McTeague, who is also a former Ontario MP, said the bump at the pump is due to a culmination of events, including the October explosion of the Enbridge natural gas pipeline and the unexpected maintenance shutdown of the Olympic pipeline last month in Washington State.
Fuel traders are still rebounding from those events and must cover gasoline demand in Oregon, Washington, and southern B.C., leading to the latest hike of about four cents and another boost of what McTeague predicts could be a "penny or two," by Sunday.
"All of your product comes from that region and some from Vancouver," McTeague told The Chief on Friday.
All our gas is imported, adding to the cost.
Fuel taxes will go up in B.C. on April 1.
The extra tax will add 3.3 cents to the price of a litre of fuel and make Metro Vancouver the highest tax jurisdiction for fuel of any major city in North America, he said.
As many frustrated commuters have noted, Squamish usually has similar gas prices to Vancouver, though we are not subject to Metro Vancouver's 17-cent TransLink tax.
As of Sunday morning, local stations were selling at $129.9, except for the Squamish Valley Gas Bar, which was a penny cheaper.
On Friday, when The Chief spoke to McTeague, local stations were paying a maximum of $1.12 per litre for their fuel, including transportation costs, McTeague said.
"You have to take in to account you are not exactly downtown Vancouver, where the volumes you are selling are higher, therefore, you don't get the big discounts, but that being said, the wholesale price I am referring to is for the average Joe who wants to pick up a tank and has a gas station and wants to buy on the public numbers."
McTeague's advice to Squamish residents is to do the math for themselves to know what stations are charging versus what the stations have to pay for the fuel.
"Knowledge is power," he said. "The numbers I am giving aren't national secrets."
Here is how to do the math:
*Search for the "daily rack price" for one of the fuel companies.
This is the base price, before taxes, the gas stations have to pay for their gas, he said.
*In our case, scroll down to "Vancouver B.C." On Friday, the price for regular unleaded gas was 72.6 cents per litre.
Now add the taxes.
Take 72.6 and add the federal tax of 10 cents per litre — that adds up to 82.6 — on top of that add all of the other provincial taxes.
For B.C. that is 22.33 cents.
Add on the GST of five per cent.
Add on a penny or two per litre for transportation costs local stations have to pay.
Thus, gas was costing local stations about $1.12 on Friday, according to McTeague.
With files from The Canadian Press.
See that original story here.
