New Brunswick gas stations want EUB review of retail margins for fuel
New Brunswick gas station owners say some perceptions about their businesses getting rich from historically high fuel prices are in fact the other way around.
Dale Mott, the owner of two rural gas stations in Willow Grove and Kingston, says smaller and smaller profits since the start of the pandemic have become zilch since fuel hit $2 a litre.
“That’s when we started losing money,” says Mott. “Every time the price of fuel goes up, I make the comment I keep throwing dead money in the ground.”
New Brunswick’s maximum retail margin for each type of motor fuel is 7.33 cents per litre, with most service stations selling for less, at a margin of five to six cents per litre.
The margin, set by New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB), doesn’t change regardless of where the price lands. When prices expand, the profit margin for retailers shrink.
Mott says the high fuel prices are being exacerbated by a number of other factors.
“The small retailer is being squeezed on inventory costs, insurance costs, overhead costs, and I don’t think the general public realizes that. We would like to see the price down as much as they would.”
The Convenience Industry Council of Canada says it will soon file a motion with New Brunswick’s EUB to review the current margin mechanism.
“There’s a high level of concern and retailers are wondering what the future looks like,” says Mike Hammoud, the council’s vice-president for Atlantic Canada.
“Just so we’re clear, we’re not blaming the New Brunswick EUB on what’s happening right now. Nobody could have ever foreseen what’s happening with gas prices today. The struggle is it’s not sustainable.”
Hammoud says the EUB will begin a review next week looking at the retail margins for 2019 to 2020. Hammoud is hoping the review will be extended to present day worries.
“We would like to find some sort of a short-term solution that could help these retailers out,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
WATCH Video shows dramatic police takedown of carjacking suspects chased through parking lot north of Toronto
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
WHO likely to issue wider alert on contaminated cough syrup
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Tesla recalling nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks because accelerator pedal can get stuck
Tesla is recalling 3,878 of its 2024 Cybertrucks after it discovered that the accelerator pedal can become stuck, potentially causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally and increase the risk of a crash.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
A couple lost their wedding rings during the ceremony. Two strangers found a fitting solution
Every good wedding has to have one teensy, tiny crisis.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.