A new provincial report is confirming what a lot of Squamish residents have suspected for a long time — gas prices here are high, despite lower taxes. It even found the community had one of the highest gas price averages among a group of 11 communities.
"Retail prices in regions adjacent to regions with higher fuel taxes (e.g., Vancouver) exhibit similar pump prices to those in higher tax regions despite lower tax rates (e.g., Squamish)," reads a news release from the BC Utilities Commission.Energy Minister Bruce Ralston told The Chief on March 9 the report shows Squamish gas retailers take a significantly higher retail margin than those in Vancouver.
During the study period, it was found the average price in Squamish was 127 cents per litre, while it was 125 cents per litre in Vancouver.Refining and crude prices were 67 cents in both communities. But a rift appears when it comes to tax and retail profits.
Squamish pays significantly less tax at 39 cents while Vancouver pays 52 cents.On the other hand, Squamish stations take an average of 20 cents in their retail profit, while Vancouver stations only take five.
"It confirms what people in Squamish have been saying. This is irrefutable BCUC research that confirms exactly what people say," said Ralston."They are making way more profit in Squamish, because they see the comparability to Vancouver when the same taxes aren't required."
However, Ralston said the report couldn't prove whether gas stations were colluding with each other in determining prices.As for next steps, the minister said he will be monitoring how the public and gas retailers respond to the report.
For now, there aren't any promises to take more steps to penalize retailers."We'll gauge the public reaction, take advice from the BCUC about what we might do," said Ralston.
"My initial hope...was that bringing a bright light to their pricing practice might cause them to change. If it doesn't, then we'll see where we go from there."Last year, the province promised to investigate allegations of unfair gas pricing in several communities, including Squamish.
It's been a longstanding complaint among locals that Squamish often pays the same price at the pump — or more — than communities in the Lower Mainland.This is despite the fact that Squamish does not pay a TransLink fuel tax of 18.5 cents per litre.
"Squamish exhibits a slightly higher average monthly retail price at gas stations for regular gasoline; however, a lower average monthly retail price at gas stations for diesel," reads the BCUC report.In a comparison group of 11 communities, Squamish and Powell River had the highest average gas prices from August to December 2020.
Aside from those two the other communities in that group included Kamloops, Kelowna, Langley, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Revelstoke, Vancouver, Vernon, and West Kelowna.On June 15, 2020, the BCUC announced that it would be expanding its fuel price data collecting and reporting for select cities in BC on an ad-hoc basis. The gathering and sharing of additional data is the result of public feedback, as the BCUC heard from many individuals seeking more specific retail pricing data.
Ralston said this will be the first step in an ongoing effort to monitor gas prices in the province.
