Drivers in Northern BC will be shelling out more money to fill up their vehicles in 2018.
Prices are expected to start off in the $110.9 range and will go up shortly after with no relief in sight.
“This is going to be an expensive year to drive, combined with the provincial government’s one and a half-cent increase to the carbon tax on April 1st, so look for prices to be around and above the dollar fifteen to dollar twenty-five range,” says Dan McTeague, Senior Petroleum Analyst with Gasbuddy.com.
Some gas stations might beat each other up by lowering their 12 cent profit margins, something McTeague doesn’t expect to last.
“That can’t be sustained forever and not everybody is going to do that. Sooner or later they are going to realize you can’t run a gas station and try to compete with Costco, the models are very different and if people want to line up for three hours to get the cheaper gasoline, that’s likely what you’re going to see and I see prices moving up, not down,”
The province’s $35 per ton carbon tax will be the highest in Canada following its one and half-cent increase.