According to the Gas Buddy website, the Keswick Shell was selling the cheapest gas in the entire province yesterday at 78.9 cents per litre.  For all of you who don’t know, the current ‘regulated’ price of regular gas is 81.79 cents per litre.

For those of you in areas that are selling regular self serve gas for over 81.79 cents a litre, (Shippagan, Lameque, Bath, Woodstock.. to name a few) and wondering why you’re paying 84 cents and up.. I’ll explain it to you.

The Public Utilities Board sets maximum prices. Right now, the maximum retail price of gas is 81.79 cents, but individual gas stations are allowed to tack on a 2 cent per litre delivery fee because they ‘may’ have paid more for their gas when it was delivered to their station than it is now. So, that means that they can go from 81.79 to charging 83.79 cents per litre (huh.. you say? how does that go to 84 cents and up… don’t forget GST on that 2 cent per litre delivery fee.)

So, there’s NB gas prices and regulation in a nutshell. Now, what I want to know, is why there aren’t more gas wars in the province. I mean, competition used to be all over the place, and now, no one wants to let their profits slide so that they can get the most business. I would think, and maybe this is my lack of knowledge on the topic of economics talking, but I would think that it would be more beneficial to be the preferred gas station in the city, to get the most business, than to have the most pofit. That way, I would inccur loyal customers who would come back to me even if I didn’t have the cheapest price on something.

But, I guess customer loyalty doesn’t matter when you’re floating around in a green, purple and blue sea of money.

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