Prices at pump continue to creep higher
Dan McTeague has some advice for Alberta motorists feeling a bit of gas pump price shock — hold off from filling up the tank until early next week.
Calgary saw an increase this week to $1.159/ litre from around $1.07/ litre the previous week. The most expensive gas station in Calgary was charging $1.279/ litre.
The average price rose to average nearly $1.129/ litre this week in Edmonton and on Friday, some gas stations were charging as much as $1.169/ litre.
McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said Friday there is every indication those prices could drop as much as five cents a litre by Monday, with some prices dropping even further into the $1.07/ litre range.
McTeague said the price breakdown on unbranded wholesale gasoline that was selling for 68.2 cents per litre on Friday also included 10 cents per litre for federal excise tax, a provincial sales tax of 13 cents per litre, a carbon tax of 6.73 cents per litre and a five per cent GST, which takes the overall cost to stations to 102.8 cents per litre.
That means gas stations are making well above the 12 cents per litre retail margin, a number Teague gave as the generally ac- cepted average retail margin for gas stations to survive.
The current prices are the highest they have been since Dec. 21, but Edmonton has the lowest average gas prices in the country and Calgary is not far behind.