Toronto, GTA gas prices to hit record-high this weekend
Posted June 2, 2022 9:52 am.
Last Updated June 3, 2022 12:43 pm.
Toronto area drivers will want to fill up their tanks sooner rather than later with another significant jump in gas prices expected at midnight.
Roger McKnight, Chief Petroleum Analyst at En-Pro, tells CityNews the price at the pumps will increase three cents on Saturday at most GTA stations, rising to a record-high 211.9 cents/litre.
“Things are sort of falling off the rails here,” McKnight says. “We’ve got a shortage of supply and an increasing demand for all petroleum products.”
The price at the pumps increased to five cents on Friday, to 208.9 cents/litre at most GTA stations. The change overnight brought the price within one cent of the gas price record for the region that was set on May 18.
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Earlier this week, the wholesale price for refined gasoline hit never before seen levels on the U.S. markets. That is now having a delayed effect on the retail price at gas stations.
“The problem is really in the U.S. inventory report that came out (Thursday),” McKnight says. “That’s sort of the benchmark that all pricing analysts and wall street traders use, and it doesn’t look very good at all.”
The overall price for energy continues to lift inflationary pressures with natural gas prices hitting $9 in the international market on Thursday morning, the highest price point in 40 years.
The Bank of Canada hiked its key interest rate by another half-percentage point to 1.5 per cent Wednesday in an effort put the brakes on out-of-control inflation. The soaring cost of consumer goods from gasoline to groceries has experts speculating that further interest rate hikes are on the horizon this year.
“The only way consumers are going to get a break is if governments, federal and provincial, start reviewing the tax structure,” says McKnight. “But to do that you have to have cooperation between the federal and provincial governments, which is a stretch.”
Doug Ford cruised to another majority win in the provincial election on Thursday, the Progressive Conservatives have promised to temporarily reduce the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre for six months beginning on July 1.
Ontarians will also be getting more money from the federal government’s carbon-price rebate cheques. For the first time, the payments will come quarterly, rather than hidden as a lump sum in annual tax-return deposits. The first cheques in 2022 will be a double payment for two quarters in July, followed by quarterly payments in September and January 2023.
With files from CityNews Senior Business Editor Mike Eppel and The Canadian Press
