Metro Vancouver drivers are waking up to an unwelcome surprise Friday morning as gas prices have been hiked overnight.
Prices at gas stations around the Lower Mainland have seen an overnight increase of around 10 cents and were seen as high as $164.9 a litre.
Experts said the rise was unexpected after a week of prices being at their lowest of 2022.
“I think it’s more one company reacts to what the others are doing,” said Paul Pasco with Kalibrate, a data, software and consulting company that supports location and pricing intelligence.
“You’re getting towards the end of the week and looking at how your books are balanced on your business and if you are coming up a little shorter than you should have on your profit expectations, then your wholesaler presents you with a larger bill that’s going to trickle through to your retail prices.”
Pasco said he expects prices to fall back to where they were for the majority of the week on the weekend.