Gas prices are expected to rise yet again across much of southern Ontario on Saturday.
After rising 11 cents per litre since Wednesday, another 12-cent increase is expected at the pumps, according to Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.
MacTeague said a four-cent increase was expected, but that jumped to 12 cents with oil companies also including the increased rate for summer blend gas.
“From April 15 until September 15, you’re supposed to use a different spec of gasoline,” MacTeague said.
“The specification changes mostly so that the ingredients, the mixture does not include something that would evaporate easily or cause problems for vehicles in higher temperatures.”
He said normally the change to summer gasoline causes a four- or five-cent increase, but with inflation, it now costs an additional seven to 7.5 cents per litre.
“So we’ll see prices go from 173.9 today, Good Friday, up to $1.859 pretty much everywhere across Toronto, the GTA, and all of Ontario,” MacTeague said.
MacTeague said while $1.859 per litre won’t be a record, the increase of 23 cents per litre in 72 hours is “unprecedented.”
“We’ve never seen an increase on that magnitude in such a short period of time,” he said.
And he said the high prices won’t be going away anytime soon.
He predicted that at points in the summer, drivers will be paying $2 per litre in Ontario.