HALIFAX -- An eight-cent-a-litre drop in gas prices on Saturday was a welcome sight for Tom Pottie.
"I'm on a fixed income, so I have to watch my pennies and take care of things," Pottie said.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) sets their weekly price based on the price of oil when the world markets close on Wednesday. However, on Thursday, the world price dropped significantly and stayed low.
"The board's policy is to interrupt, or to change the price off cycle, when the price goes up or down by more than six to eight cents a litre and is sustained for more than a day," said Paul Allen, the Nova Scotia UARB's executive director.
That brought the price for a litre of self-serve gas down from $1.31 to $1.23. As for diesel, the price didn't change enough for the interrupter clause to apply, Allen said.
Petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan says the recent decline in the world price of gas is connected to a spike in cases of COVID-19 in Europe, but it’s a trend he doesn’t think will continue.
"Unfortunately, I think in the weeks ahead when we start to see improvement in Europe, I think gas prices will start to go up again across Canada and the Maritimes," De Haan said via Zoom from Chicago.
Prior to the Saturday adjustment, gas prices had been steadily increasing.
"Prices have really been going up since early November 2020," De Haan said.
Allen says when the UARB intervenes, historically, it is to lower the pump price, not increase it. The last time the board stepped in to change the price of gas was in March 2020 when it ordered the price to be lowered by almost two cents a litre.
