Home heating fuel prices drop
Diesel falls 26 per cent in the last year; gas falls below a dollar a litre
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, January 29, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The price of home heating oil in the NWT, including diesel, has fallen 26 per cent since 2014, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics.
Regular gas is selling in Yellowknife for 98.9 cents a litre. Long time residents say they haven't seen the price this low in the city for over a decade. The NWT Bureau of Statistics says gas prices have fallen 10.7 percent in the last year but fuel oil, including diesel prices, have fallen a whopping 26 per cent over the same period. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
The price of regular gas is selling in Yellowknife for 98.9 cents a litre, a 10.7 per cent decrease in the past year.
Homeowners who heat their residences with diesel will have seen a savings on their bills due to lower fuel costs. They also likely had to burn less diesel due to the relatively mild winter.
The lower price of diesel is also good news for Yellowknife Education District No. 1.
At a regular board meeting on Jan. 12, trustees were told the board has saved nearly $100,000 on heating so far this winter, or about 30 per cent of its normal heating budget due to the mild weather. However, trustee Alan Shortt cautioned the board about spending that money in other areas. He said it could get colder this winter and the possibility exists that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment could decide to cut funding from its heat budget next year.
Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne said he heats his Niven Lake home with both diesel and wood pellets and noticed a difference in his diesel bills due to both the price and the mild winter.
"My last couple of bills have come in at just over $600 compared to about $750 a year ago," he said.
As an MLA, Vanthuyne said he would like to see the territorial government take immediate advantage of the low fuel prices but added that he is not sure that is possible.
"I don't believe we have storage facilities to be able to take advantage of lower fuel prices right now. What about ... the Robinson Tank Farm? Is there opportunity for the territorial government maybe to take advantage of that?" Vanthuyne wondered.
Meanwhile, after years of paying some of the highest gasoline prices in the country, Yellowknife motorists could be forgiven for thinking they are seeing a mistake on the gas price signs in front of the pumps. For the first time in recent memory, possibly more than a decade, regular gas is selling for less than a dollar a litre. The price on Tuesday at retailers across the city was 98.9 cents a litre.
"1962," joked Co-op general manager Justin Nelson when asked when the last time the price of gas was this low in the city. "I wish I could tell you but I can't really remember. It'll probably more than likely go down even lower. It depends what goes on in the world."
The Yellowknife Co-op purchases its gas from Imperial Oil and has it delivered to Yellowknife from a depot in Hay River, Nelson said.
"Our prices are dictated on the big oil companies' rack rate and our freight rate," Nelson said. "The rack rate is basically the big oil companies' market rate - what they can sell it for on the open market."
According to the NWT Bureau of Statistics, the price of gasoline in the territory has fallen 10.7 per cent since 2014.
People in Yellowknife have wondered for years, when gas was stubbornly stuck at $1.38.9/litre, why did the fluctuating price of oil not affect the price of gas in the city?
"That's the old general manager. That's not my doing. I'm the new guy with the cheap gas," Nelson said facetiously. "I really couldn't tell you but at that particular time gas was much more expensive. But I can only tell you about the present and the future."
Nelson pointed out that the price for gas at the Co-op is actually nine cents a litre less than the posted price for Co-op members.
The last time the price of gas was this low in Yellowknife was Nov. 10, 2004 when it sold for 98.9 cents a litre, according to Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst for gas price watchdog gasbuddy.com.
