'Gas bar shenanigans' spike prices across Alberta, analyst says

Soaring gasoline prices in Calgary and Edmonton pushed the national average to a five-year high, according to an online price monitoring firm.

Dan McTeague of GasBuddy.com says the national average price for regular gasoline was 136.0 cents per litre on Thursday, up from 105.2 cents on the same date last year.

It's close to the previous high of 139.1 cents, in June 2013.

According to the website's live price counter, prices in Calgary averaged 138.2 cents per litre Thursday morning, up 11.6 cents from last week's average and up 43.8 cents from the same date a year ago.

'Gas bar shenanigans'

Edmonton prices were 136.2 cents per litre, up 13 cents from last week and 47.8 cents from 12 months ago.

McTeague says the biggest cause of this week's surge in Alberta prices was "gas bar shenanigans", as retailers who hadn't passed on recent increases in wholesale prices decided to catch up all at once.

He doesn't expect the increases to stick, pointing out some stations in Edmonton are already retreating.

"These prices will turtle but the point is that we are testing levels that have never been seen before," McTeague said.

He says average prices in Alberta are below the September2008peak.

But most people are likely paying more for fuel, he said, because current average is brought down by Costco, which tends to sell gas at cost in order to draw members into its stores.

Higher profit margins

McTeague says price increases are also being driven by higher profit margins at refineries, stronger oil prices, the weak Canadian dollar and higher Canadian taxes on fuel.

According to the GasBuddy.com website, prices on the Prairies have jumped the most compared to last year, with Alberta's average price up 37 cents to 132.3 cents per litre as of Wednesday night, Manitoba up 36.2 cents and Saskatchewan up by 31.5 cents.

The site says British Columbia's average price was the highest in the country as of Wednesday, at 144.2 cents, an increase of 30.0 cents over the past year.

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