Some relief came to Fraser Valley motorists when gas prices in Metro Vancouver dropped significantly this week, trickling decreases across the Lower Mainland.
According to GasBuddy.com, prices in Metro Vancouver were set to slide six cents on Thursday – from 144.9 cents a litre to 138.9 cents.
GasBuddy.com senior analyst Dan McTeague told Black Press the Metro Vancouver drop is linked to a seven-cent drop in crude oil prices after the impact of sanctions in Iran neglected to hurt global oil supply as had been expected.
Related: Gas prices in Metro Vancouver drop six cents
But where does that leave gas prices across the Fraser Valley?
McTeague told the Observer by phone that he expects the Lower Mainland to see the price drop at almost the same rate as Metro Vancouver.
“For gas stations there will be a decrease, whether they pass it on or not remains to be seen, but they normally do,” said McTeague. “I’m expecting average prices to drop six cents a litre in Chilliwack and Hope.”
Typically, competition will drive the price drop out into the Valley, McTeague said.
“I think clearly we are in a very strong situation to see gas prices diminish by about the same amount as what we are going to see in Vancouver over night.”
But McTeague said there’s a reason if the Fraser Valley doesn’t see prices lower quite as quickly.
Metro gas stations usually sell higher volumes of gas, speeding up the rate at which they purchase a new supply at a lower cost and pass on the decrease to their customers.
But stations that see less traffic might hold off on lowering prices until they’ve sold out of the supply they bought at the previously higher rate.
But the same rule applies when prices increase – helping to even the playing field.
“Sometimes it does take a littler bit longer, but the benefit is when prices rise dramatically,” McTeague said. “So in the end, we all pay about the same, it just depends how they spread it over.”
Still, many drivers from Agassiz and Harrison say they fill up in other communities like Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Mission and even Bellingham – where they say they find more affordable gas.
“Chilliwack is cheaper so I wait to fill up when I am going into town for shopping,” Tara Lack told the Observer via Facebook.
Michelle Bella said she rarely fills up in Agassiz.
“Abby or Mission is always cheaper but between Agassiz and Chilliwack, I always fill up in Chilliwack,” she wrote.
Daryl Osbourne doesn’t fill up locally either.
“Mission or Aldergrove (or Sumas Costco) are best for Canadian gas – $1.19 on average,” he stated. “Sumas USA is cheaper still – average $1.10 CAD.”
But Harrison Mills resident Chandra-Lee Aldridge said gas in Lake Errock and Sts’ailes is typically the same price as Mission’s.
“The other day we got gas 10 cents cheaper up here than down in town,” she wrote.
User-reported GasBuddy data showed that, on Wednesday, the Husky station in Harrison Hot Springs had priced regular gas at 136.9 cents a litre, while the Popkum Esso was selling gas at 129.8 cents.
Hope was seeing similar prices Wednesday – between 127.9 and 129.9 cents a litre.
Gas in Dewdney was even lower – 123.8 cents a litre. And one of the lowest recorded prices in the Valley on Wednesday was in Mission, where a Horne Street Petro-Canada was selling gas at 116.9 cents a litre.
McTeague’s advice is to fill up as soon as prices go down, because he anticipates a two-cent rise to follow.
“When you see the prices drop six cents a litre, take advantage of it tomorrow or on Friday because the wholesale price is indicating [that] it’s going up.”
Related: Are Chilliwack gas prices too high? Some say yes
With files from Katya Slepian.
nina.grossman@ahobserver.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
