Gas stations across New Brunswick were busier than usual Wednesday, as motorists fuelled up ahead of a large increase expected overnight.
Prices at the pumps are predicted to rise by approximately 13 cents as part of the economic impact of Hurricane Harvey.
GasBuddy Senior Petroleum Analyst Dan McTeague told Global News that New Brunswick gas prices will jump from 109 cents/litre to 120 cents/litre at midnight, as part of a holdback from last week.
McTeague said diesel prices will also go up by 4.5 cents/litre, as well as home heating fuel.
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McTeague said he’s not sure why the province chose not to activate its “interrupter clause” last week like Nova Scotia did. He said that while the rest of the country starts to see a drop in prices, New Brunswick gas prices will remain high until at least next Thursday.
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He said that while the rest of the country starts to see a drop in prices, New Brunswick gas prices will remain high until at least next Thursday.
“Thanks to the arbitrariness in which the interrupter clause is used, thanks to a handful of civil servants who have made that decision, it’s likely that you’re going to suffer the pain a lot longer than the rest of the country even though it may be not taking into account or you may not appreciate that while everyone else is paying 15 cents more you’ve been getting a bit of a break at the expense of your retailer, at the expense of your wholesaler, at the expense of distributors in the province, and possibly at the expense of many of them deciding not to do any more business in New Brunswick,” McTeague said.
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Trius Group of Companies Director of Operations Dave McArthur told Global News the increase will affect their companies, especially the bus division.
“The majority of our prices are preset when we charter buses to other companies, and as well as when we sell trips for our tour company Trius Experience Tours,” McArthur said.
“It also affects our delivery company SA Deliveries, so I mean we’re on the road we have 24 delivery trucks on the road between here and Woodstock and Chipman. We’re all over North America with our buses… so it’s going to be pretty frightening when the prices do go up.”
He said fuel costs in the bus business are about 20 per cent of the price. McArthur said Service New Brunswick and UNB are big clients and said it’s an extremely busy time of year in terms of bus charters and motor coach charters.
“When we charter a bus for a daily rate of $1,250, 20 per cent of that comes back as an expense for fuel so it’s going to impact us a great deal,” McArthur said. “I think it’s an immediate impact to be quite honest with you because a lot of these prices are preset, a lot of our business
“I think it’s an immediate impact, to be quite honest with you, because a lot of these prices are preset, a lot of our business is contract so we’re going to eat it for sure if the price goes up. It’s just like any other cost of doing business.”
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