Pain at the pump: Gas prices shoot up seven cents a litre

A hike in wholesale gas prices caused by a supply squeeze shot pump prices up at least seven cents overnight and an analyst is expecting gas to go up another one penny a litre on Wednesday. The hikes in what is already the most expensive gas market in North America hurts Randip Singh right in the wallet. The Vancouver cabbie was filling up at a Vancouver gas station on Monday and he was skeptical about a shortage causing the increase that’s going to add at least $5 to his fill. “Before they used to say it was the crude oil prices going up and that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “I think they’re selling less gas because of the electric vehicles and they’re not making as much profit so they have to raise the price.” For those who welcomed a price dip to $1.369 a litre recently at some stations (a discount that analysts said was caused by retailers competing with one another), the hike seemed especially steep. B.C. gas retailers have to pay a premium to import gas and that amounts to an extra 19 cents a litre from the Washington refineries, said McTeague.