West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy has raised concerns and urged action about the persistently high fuel prices faced by residents of the Sea to Sky corridor, highlighting a significant discrepancy compared to Metro Vancouver.
“For years now, gas prices in the Sea to Sky have met or exceeded those of Metro Vancouver,” Sturdy said in a Facebook post. “This week, for example, gas was 188.9¢ in Pemberton and only 180.9¢ in North Vancouver.” Sturdy pointed out that the fuel transportation costs to the Sea to Sky are approximately $0.01 per litre, making the price disparity inexplicable given the region’s absence of the TransLink Fuel Levy.
The TransLink Fuel Levy, which adds about 18.5 cents per litre to fund Metro Vancouver’s regional transit services, does not apply to the Sea to Sky area. Yet, Sturdy highlighted that residents and visitors to the region have been consistently paying more for fuel. “On average for the last year, Sea to Sky residents and visitors have been paying $0.08 per litre more than Metro when we should be paying far less,” he said.
Sturdy illustrated the pricing discrepancy with a specific example: “If fuel is $1.809 per litre in Metro, it should by rights be $1.704 in the Sea to Sky. Yet today’s prices in the Sea to Sky are $1.889, so we are paying $0.185 per litre more than we should. It’s unacceptable and unaffordable.”
The MLA also referenced the 2019 Fuel Price Transparency Act, which authorized the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) to investigate fuel pricing. The BCUC’s data confirmed the long-standing suspicions of Sea to Sky drivers that they are being overcharged.
“With more than 60 million litres of fuel being sold annually in the Sea to Sky, up to $15 million is being siphoned straight off the bottom line of corridor families and businesses with the windfall profits going straight to the fuel companies,” he noted.
Sturdy urged immediate action, calling on the BCUC and the provincial government to address this issue. “Now is the time for the BCUC to fulfill their responsibility as administrators of the Fuel Price Transparency Act and, in concert with the Province of British Columbia, work to correct this price gouging by generating a submission to the Canadian Competition Bureau to combat price fixing in the retail fuel market,” he asserted.
He encouraged residents to email the Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation and the Premier to demand action and ensure accountability. “Please also include my office so we have a record of correspondence and can create accountability on your behalf,” he added.
Bill says
No big surprise, they’ve been gouging for years and as there is a toothless penalty system, why pay attention. At the end of the day, it is basically big corporations taking obscene profits and politicians doing what they do best, nothing!