Metro Vancouver gas prices rise again amid ongoing affordability challenges

Gas prices are once again on the rise, with many areas around the Metro Vancouver region seeing over $2 for a litre of regular.

Many have reported increases in recent days. As of Monday, some locations were posting prices as high as $2.04/litre, with many locals seeing similar price tags at the pumps over the long weekend.

New analysis from GasBuddy shows prices in Vancouver Sunday were almost 50 cents a litre higher than the same day just one year ago.

$124.77 USD = $160.83 Canadian

26.724 Gallons = 101.55 Litres

Price per Litre in Bellingham for PREMIUM was $1.58 Canadian.

Up here it is $2.20.

Savings = $62.96 Canadian…

Savings compared to Regular Grade = $38.49 Canadian.@CityNewsTraffic @AM730Traffic pic.twitter.com/od3GdiqqeQ

— Brad Atchison (@Brad604) April 17, 2022

And it’s not just the Lower Mainland that’s seeing a spike — people in Ontario saw prices jump 23 cents over just a couple of days recently.

They’re also expected to hit the $2-range at some point.

Things are still slightly better for Metro Vancouverites right now than they were just weeks ago, when drivers saw prices as high as in the $2.16 per litre range, though ongoing world events continue to contribute to the pain.

The war in Ukraine is the most obvious factor to affect gas prices, with the effects extending to jurisdictions across the globe.

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High demand and low supply, coupled with the fact it’s a long weekend in Canada, has also been adding to pressure.

Even those driving south across the border in recent days may have noticed gas savings weren’t as great as they remember it being pre-pandemic. This is even after the White House released a million barrels of oil a day from its reserves with the goal of seeing prices drop. While prices didn’t drop significantly, the move may have prevented them from rising even further.

Meanwhile, it’s also important to note drivers on the Lower Mainland pay some of the highest gas taxes nationwide.

“It might stay bad until either we resolve some of this mess over in Europe or until we move past the peak summer driving season and that’s not going to happen until way out in September,” explained Professor Lindsay Meredith with SFU’s Beedie School of Business, about when drivers may see some relief.

In addition to the crisis in Ukraine, inflation, supply and demand, and the busy summer driving season, Meredith explains fuel production is also problematic.

“Until you get either a major, major break in increase in the amount of oil produced, you’re not going to see any decrease in the pressure to keep moving those prices up and that means those Vancouver drivers, regrettably, are probably going to continue to suffer.”

Some industry insiders think prices in the region may be hovering around the $2-mark for at least the next few months. Meredith says it could be a little higher even until the fall, at least.

“You’re probably going to see spikes moving into that category. Is it going to sit there and stabilize at that higher price, one would hope the hell not. What we will very likely see would be spikes that would go up to $2.10 or maybe, God forbid, up to $2.15, but that would be right over the very peak driving times, long holiday weekends in the summer — things of that sort. Hopefully what should happen is after the spikes, you should see it start to fall back to, one would hope, dropping below that $2 range,” he said.

B.C. Premier John Horgan announced in March a one-time rebate of $110 to help provide some relief, though the move has been criticized by many who have questioned why B.C. government didn’t opt to tackle taxes instead, like some other provinces have done.