There may be a dearth of fuel in the region, but we’re being flooded with news about the price of gas.
The spate of stories, including one in this week’s Coast Reporter, suggest the recent price hikes in the Lower Mainland – which could top out at $1.60 per litre – have a lot to do with several regional refineries and the U.S. Olympic pipeline closing for spring cleaning, a weak Canadian dollar, a federal carbon tax increase, and the introduction of the more expensive summer fuel blend.
But what undergirds Vancouver’s exorbitant fuel prices, at least according to Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, is “chronic” undersupply. He thinks the answer lies in the controversial expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, the only pipeline to siphon Alberta crude to the West Coast, which could increase capacity nearly threefold.
Notably, nowhere on the Trans Mountain website could I find a reference to the project lowering prices in Western Canada. Kinder Morgan is looking further west, across the Pacific. Since the debate rages on about what the pipeline will actually do to local prices, it might be more energy-efficient to let time do its thing.
Which brings me to the other two reasons behind Vancouver’s excessive gas prices and, by comparison, the Sunshine Coast’s reasonable ones: real estate and taxes.
Gas station owners have to increase their margins by 12 cents per litre to turn a profit in the city. It’s less expensive out here on the Coast, so stations can get away with smaller margins. And then there’s the Motor Fuel Tax. A portion of these taxes apply in specific regions to help pay for public transportation. The South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink) tax is the highest of all at 17 cents per litre, and extends as far west as Bowen Island. Victoria deals with a 3.5-cent-per-litre tax. Perhaps another reason to be thankful the Coast is caught between two worlds.
The Coast doesn’t get that extra tax, but we are still blessed with cheap public transportation. For those of us with the privilege of choice, 60 bucks can get you a monthly bus pass here on the Coast. If you’re a senior, you’re looking at $42. That’s pretty good mileage for your dollar, too.
