Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk is trying to get answers on how local gas stations determine their prices but says he's been left to draw his own conclusions.
"All I'm trying to find out is how gas prices are structured, rationalized and, in effect, harmonized on the Coast. But no one is willing to give me that information," said Janyk.
He says he's been fielding a number of complaints from local constituents who regularly see lower prices for fuel from the same retailers in the Lower Mainland and want to know why the Coast's prices are higher.
"I was able to get some information from the Greater Vancouver Regional District that suggests their prices should actually be higher than ours," said Janyk.
In a letter from the GVRD to Janyk it's explained that gas stations in their regional district are taxed 11.5 cents per litre, and of that tax, six cents is taken by the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority.
"So if you compare a base price of, say, 50 cents a litre, theoretically we should have a six cent advantage over Vancouver, yet their prices are lower," said Janyk.
He says he has sent letters to local retailers asking them to explain their pricing structures, but the responses he's received are poor.
A response from Sherri Young, general manager of Sunshine Grocers and Gas Bar, says the station works on a "pathetically low profit margin" of about five per cent on regular fuel.
In the letter she sent to Janyk she explains they are taxed both GST and PST and charged barge fees and delivery costs, but no figures were offered.
"I see this as a response that doesn't really say anything," said Janyk, although he credits Young with at least responding to his inquiries.
Other stations in Gibsons have said they cannot comment and questions should be forwarded to head office.
Only Petro Canada's head office returned phone calls to Coast Reporter by press time. Senior communications supervisor John Hamilton said volume is one of the main determining factors for gasoline prices on the Coast.
"It's often a volume game. Retailers only make a few pennies a litre, and from that they have to pay all their fixed costs like salaries, lighting, etc. Retailers that have larger volumes can afford to sell the gas for less because their fixed costs are the same," Hamilton said.
He said retailers on the Sunshine Coast sell lower volumes of gasoline in a month than gas stations in Vancouver, which would explain the cost difference.
"And often what you see in Vancouver is some pretty wild price wars where the price will dip to, say, 74.9 cents a litre, which is not indicative of the costs. Those gas stations are probably losing money but eventually someone waves the white flag and says they can't do it any more. That's why you'll see the price jump back up to 92.9," Hamilton said.
But Janyk says he is still skeptical.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District also questions fuel prices on the Coast. In October of last year they requested that staff research the existence of any authority the SCRD might appeal to.
In a report presented to the board, SCRD staff said they concluded that "the differential in gas prices between the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland results at the retail level, not from taxation" and that "for the past three weeks the difference in gas price between North Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast is 10 cents per litre. Taking into consideration that the Sunshine Coast pays six cents per litre less in taxes, the variance is sixteen cents."
Later SCRD asked staff to write Consumer Services requesting they investigate the high cost of gas on the Sunshine Coast, but Janyk says they haven't received any answers.
"I just want to know what I can tell my constituents when they ask me about this," Janyk said. "I'm concerned this is not a transparent process."
