What’s behind the sudden spike in Edmonton gas prices?

WATCH ABOVE: If you didn’t fill up your vehicle last night, you probably regretted it in the morning. Fletcher Kent looks into why.

EDMONTON — Edmontonians were in for a surprise as gas prices sky-rocketed as much as 16 cents per litre over the last day.

The average price of regular in Edmonton was 66 cents a litre on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, some prices were up to 82 cents.

Edmonton is not alone in the price hike.

But that doesn’t mean the sudden jump at the pumps sits well with Edmontonians.

“Why are the gas stations themselves doing an automatic increase and it’s not through the price of oil?” asked Edmontonian Keith Mapes as he filled up at Fas Gas on the southside. It was among the city’s last stations to raise its prices.

“How can they arbitrarily make that decision that they’re going to increase by 12 cents?”

Grace Chelich, who also managed to fill up before the hike thanks to her gas prices app, has her own theory.

“I think the industry is now trying to make up the difference because of the economy and just the way the oil prices are. So they’re trying to make up the difference at the pumps,” she mused.

There is some truth to that according to one expert, who believes that during the recent stretch of low gas prices, stations have taken a big hit.

“They had not only to contend with prices that were even lower than what they bought two or three weeks before. They were also contending with not being able to cover their costs to turn on their pumps,” said senior petroleum analyst Dan McTeague.

“What we’re now seeing is that they’ve asked for about 10 cents per litre to recoup some of that based on a wholesale increase that took place just a couple of days ago.”

Another reason for the increase seems to be a simple case of supply and demand.  The latter, McTeague said, was much higher than expected in January; there was also a recent shut down of three “critical” refineries in the U.S.

“That’s crimped the supply picture for the prairies.”

While that may have driven the gas prices up, what may drive them even higher is the Canadian dollar, which McTeague explained was “throttled” on Thursday.

Mapes wouldn’t mind seeing the gas prices go up further. He just wishes they were rebounding along with oil prices, which according to some forecasts, may stay low for several years.

READ MORE: Premier Jim Prentice taking U.S. trip to push Alberta oil

For now, though, Mapes will just have to keep looking for deals like the one he found today.

READ MORE: Plummeting gas prices could hand Canadian families $1,500 apiece

“I don’t have control of it, so I might as we’ll take advantage of it.”

With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News