Gas Prices

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by GeeCee

That Chevron is usually quite a bit more expensive than the other gas stations a couple blocks away.

No doubt, Chevron seems to command a price premium in the US. It's quite dramatic in some places.

[Stingray2004]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

You don't have to go all the way to Bellingham to fill up. Whenever I'm coming back from the US I usually stop in at the Chevron in Ferndale.

Most Metro Van folk go to either Blaine (right across the border), as Bellingham is too far away, or to Point Roberts. I even know folk, all the way from Van City proper, who make a trip to Point Roberts virtually every Sunday for gas fill-up.

[moosejaw]

Originally Posted by Stingray2004

Most Metro Van folk go to either Blaine (right across the border), as Bellingham is too far away, or to Point Roberts. I even know folk, all the way from Van City proper, who make a trip to Point Roberts virtually every Sunday for gas fill-up.

Every tuesday as a kid frm college during the summer i would take my parents cars to the US to fill up. I went to school in the US so it was common for me to drive across the border weekly sometimes twice a week. WHen they introduced that pass thing it was much easier. We lived in Renfrew.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Trainguy

Regardless of where it comes from, it is too expensive. I will continue to fill up as much as possible at the Fred Meyer in Bellingham at 0.83 Can. As the dollar gets stronger, the price will get better.

The difference in pricing between WA and BC fluctuates with the exchange rate.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Stingray2004

Most Metro Van folk go to either Blaine (right across the border), as Bellingham is too far away, or to Point Roberts. I even know folk, all the way from Van City proper, who make a trip to Point Roberts virtually every Sunday for gas fill-up.

To make that trip just for gas is ridiculous.

[Spork]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

To make that trip just for gas is ridiculous.

Absolutely. I usually go to PR to pick up packages once in awhile and get gas while I am there just because it is cheaper. I've calculated on each occasion that I only save about $4-6 (usually about 45L purchased) after I account for the gas that I've burned to get there. When picking up packages it makes sense, but to go there just for gas is an insanely low valuation of one's own time.

[Klazu]

What I wonder the most is how come this $1.29-1.35 seems to be the range where gas prices in Metro Vancouver have been stuck for ages. I am sure the oil world price and exchange rate has changes during the last 2-3 years, but the price is stuck at this level.

We also had $0.99 prices ~3 years ago when the price of oil was plummeting. Somehow it bounced back to this level soon after, whereas elsewhere in Canada it got stuck to a bit lower level.

I haven't recently been keeping an eye on the Loonie, but what is keeping it so low? Is the oil production in Alberta still hurting from the drop or has that rebounced? Is that the reason or is our economy doing poorly otherwise? I am not under that impression, but would be curious to know how our dollar is not getting up again?

I had to use Euros while in Iceland and Greenland, as those prices would have been horrific when paying with CAD...

[Caliplanner1]

Originally Posted by Spork

Absolutely. I usually go to PR to pick up packages once in awhile and get gas while I am there just because it is cheaper. I've calculated on each occasion that I only save about $4-6 (usually about 45L purchased) after I account for the gas that I've burned to get there. When picking up packages it makes sense, but to go there just for gas is an insanely low valuation of one's own time.

If indeed the business economics axiom "time is money" means anything,...then increasing travel time lost means money lost!

[Trainguy]

Originally Posted by TrickyTree

Good to see your support for the local Canadian economy.

Well, my family is not a charity and when I can buy many things in Can $ for half the price I can up here, it is a no-brainer. Several years ago I went to Best Buy to get a TV that Best Buy USA had on sale. They refused to price match. Fine, bought it in Bellingham.

[Trainguy]

Go figure... I fill up in downtown Langley around 5:00 pm and the price is $1.31/L. The same station was $1.43 at 8:00 am. I get back to Surrey and it is 1.41/L and even higher in some stations. It is like a crap shoot on prices depending on where you live and what time you fill up. There should be more uniformity on prices. These price swings are just annoying...

[Alex Mackinnon]

Time to go electric. The only time your prices will change is when the BCUC approves price increases. It's nice to have certainty.

[jollyburger]

Seems like it dropped $0.06 cents or something in the last few days.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Time to go electric. The only time your prices will change is when the BCUC approves price increases. It's nice to have certainty.

wait until every person has electric, then your "gas" for your car AND your house will cost more. and then add in the fact Vancouver is forcing all electric appliances while at the same time not allowing BC Hydro to build the very needed downtown substation. there go the cheap power rates and night time being off peak as everyone is charging.

[SpongeG]

I was in Langley on thursday and it was 128.9 at costco, and 128.9 at lmost all the other stations, i got back to coquitlam and it was 137.9 and then in burnaby it was 144.9, seems to be all over the place since then, usually the stations stay in sync more.

[Trainguy]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I was in Langley on thursday and it was 128.9 at costco, and 128.9 at lmost all the other stations, i got back to coquitlam and it was 137.9 and then in burnaby it was 144.9, seems to be all over the place since then, usually the stations stay in sync more.

The Fred Meyer in Bellingham, usually 40 cents/L CAN cheaper, has the same price all day and night. It only changes when the wholesale price changes or if the Costco across the street starts a price war. I haven't noticed any wild daily swings like we have here

[flipper316]

Regarding going down to Blaine just for fuel so what? When it's 40 to 50 cents cheaper it's worth it for a lot of people. Especially if you bring jerry cans so realistically you're probably only gonna go down 2-3 times a month. I see Canadians with luxury vehicles in Blaine getting gas too.

[Nites]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Regarding going down to Blaine just for fuel so what? When it's 40 to 50 cents cheaper it's worth it for a lot of people. Especially if you bring jerry cans so realistically you're probably only gonna go down 2-3 times a month. I see Canadians with luxury vehicles in Blaine getting gas too.

Is it safe transporting gas like that in containers? I'm assuming those jerry cans don't protect you from the fumes. You will need at least 40-60 liters to fillup most cars. I couldn't imagine carrying that much gas in cans in the car.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

wait until every person has electric, then your "gas" for your car AND your house will cost more. and then add in the fact Vancouver is forcing all electric appliances while at the same time not allowing BC Hydro to build the very needed downtown substation. there go the cheap power rates and night time being off peak as everyone is charging.

It's not going to be an immense amount of power to EVs. Replacing natural gas heat on the other hand will be a much larger amount of power.

I'm not sure if you've look at a Hydro bill recently, but BC has never had time dependent rates. They honestly don't give a crap when you use power, because they can adjust the flow through turbines.

The big driver for time related charges is if you have a big thermal baseload. The operators essentially have to keep their plant warm or it ages the equipment due to thermal cycling, so they can't stop generating at night. That's why they have to nearly give it away.

If charging happens mostly at night, it does however spread the cost of distribution infrastructure over a greater amount of power sales.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by skymaster

Is it safe transporting gas like that in containers? I'm assuming those jerry cans don't protect you from the fumes. You will need at least 40-60 liters to fillup most cars. I couldn't imagine carrying that much gas in cans in the car.

Jerry cans are air tight. They have a little gasket. I wouldn't want to travel with them much though.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

It's not going to be an immense amount of power to EVs. Replacing natural gas heat on the other hand will be a much larger amount of power.

I'm not sure if you've look at a Hydro bill recently, but BC has never had time dependent rates. They honestly don't give a crap when you use power, because they can adjust the flow through turbines.

well if there are all of a sudden 2 million cars charging over night, i could see that being an issue. that is on-top of the natural gas replacement.

i know BC Hydro doesn't have time-dependent rates but from what i have heard is that at night they can shut down a lot of turbines and save on maintenance/wear and tear and buy very cheap power from down south where they use thermal systems unlike hydro like us.

if BC Hydro were to use turbines 24/7 and more then they do now i could see prices going up since there will be an increase in maintenance requirements. will it be that large? mehh, maybe not. but it is still something that adds up. this is also on-top of a world where we need more and more power constantly and where we have politicians who want to do green-washing by banning natural gas and forcing electricity.

i do think it will have an affect, though, and then there is the fact our power system is now mostly from the 1960s and older so it is only going to get more costly to maintain.

really, we shouldn't have used electric cars, they are terrible compared to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. but that is a discussion for another forum.