Key takeaways:
- Market factors, operating expenses, earnings, and more go into the final calculation.
- The gas cost in Newfoundland and Labrador has shot several new record highs in 2022.
The cost of gas in Newfoundland and Labrador — and across the nation — has increased dramatically over the previous few months, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
CBC News has heard from commuters, seniors, and others, already struggling with the expense of living, who say the rising costs of gas and heat are striking them, and even making some to the brink.
As gas costs struck new record highs, the regional government has been under rising pressure to intervene from the public, the opposition, and customer groups. Still, Liberal politicians have often said the government has little power over the price of gas.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, fuel costs are held by the Public Utilities Board, which defines itself as an independent, quasi-judicial body. The PUB has a local government order to control the price of fuel and some other products and services, like electrical utilities and automobile insurance.
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Usually, the PUB, which has been holding fuel costs since 2001, sets its changes every Thursday morning, right after midnight.
This year, though, price adjustments have become unreliable. SINCE MID-FEBRUARY, the PUB has made shock price adjustments nearly every week and its regular adjustments. The PUB condemns “extraordinary commodity market developments in its news releases declaring extraordinary differences.”
Although the PUB doesn’t show everything factoring into each cost change, there is a method — and much of that data can be seen on its website.
The benchmark
To estimate motor fuel prices per week, the PUB pays for data from Platts U.S. Marketscan, an outline of United States fuel markets that puts a daily benchmark price.
Source – cbc.ca
