It’s a truism that gasoline prices rise on the Friday of a long weekend.But Alberta motorists are scratching their heads as to why they’re not coming back down again after some stations have posted variances of as much as 20 cents per litre in major cities like Edmonton and Calgary — sometimes within blocks of each other.According to gas tracking website gasbuddy.com, prices in Calgary ranged from about $1.44 per litre of regular on the Tsuut’ina reserve, to around $1.62 while in Edmonton motorists could fill for $1.33..According to gas wizard.com, the averages as of Thursday morning were about $1.50 in Calgary and $1.47 in Edmonton and expected to hold through the weekend.The reasons for the discrepancy weren’t immediately clear, apart from what Canadians for Affordable Energy President Dan McTeague called ‘#gasbarshenanigans’.According to McTeague, wholesale prices of about 97 cents per litre are expounded by various taxes — federal, provincial, carbon and GST — to come up with a break even price of about $1.43. Edmonton tends to be a few cents cheaper than Calgary due to factors such as transportation and the proximity of refineries, which places an average retail price of about a dime higher depending on location.That means motorists in Calgary should fill up at anything less than $1.52 and $1.50 in Edmonton..“So take advantage of it while you can. Things like this don’t always happen, and they certainly don’t always last,”Canadians for Affordable Energy President Dan McTeague.The situation is similar across Western Canada and the US Midwest, although Americans tend to pay lower fuel tax surcharges even after factoring in American dollars.That’s even though oil prices have fallen from about USD$80 per barrel on Monday to around $77 on Thursday morning.“So take advantage of it while you can. Things like this don’t always happen, and they certainly don’t always last,” McTeague said.Alberta motorists can take cold comfort in the fact that the cheapest gasoline to be had in West Vancouver is on the order of $2 per litre, while in Victoria it’s about $1.94.Looking ahead to summer, gasoline prices are forecast to peak in May and finish the year about eight cents per litre higher than at the end of 2023. “The outlook for automotive fuel prices in Canada for the summer of 2024 points towards a rise. However, the actual impact will depend on how these global political, social, and economic factors evolve over time,” it said.
