Gas Prices Still Too High in P.G.

By Ben Meisner

If you’re coming to Prince George, buy your gas before you get here because when you refill here you’ll be gouged. As of May 10TH, Prince George has the distinction of having the next most expensive gas next to Whitehorse and, Yellowknife. If you use the cost of regular gas before taxes in Prince George at 67.9 cents a litre, only Yellowknife at 75.5 and Whitehorse at 81.7 pay more. In the case of Yellowknife if they want product right now, it would have to be flown into that community. The price before taxes in Victoria (67.3) and Gander, Newfoundland (62.8) comes as a result of the need to ship product to the islands.  In Prince George, the Husky refinery is located within scant kilometers of most service stations in this city, still, the product does have to be shipped across the Nechako River.

The argument that there is a short supply and not enough refining capacity might be okay in some cities but with s refinery  in Prince George, that argument just ads fuel to the fire. The difference comes in this city in the wholesale mark up of gasoline and the local service stations (for the most part owned by the large gas companies) taking huge mark ups. As a side note, when the argument is tossed out that the cost of fossil fuel has gone sky high it might be valid until such time as you examine the balance sheets of the major gas companies and you find that world wide their profits have gone sky high. We always get the statement that market conditions dictate the cost of gas in this city.

The word gouge comes to mind when you think of where we are in comparison to most cities in this country.

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