Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / PML / Gas prices in Chilliwack have spiked about 20 cents in the past 24 hours.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack gas prices

Chilliwack gas prices jump 15-20 cents in past 24 hours

Dec 13, 2022 | 11:12 AM

CHILLIWACK — Unleaded gasoline prices jumped about 15-20 cents in the past 24 hours throughout Chilliwack, as the days of cheap gas around $1.30 per litre didn’t stick around for long.

During the past week, gas prices had been hovering in the $1.319 to $1.329 range, including a low of $1.307 at the Esso at Young Road and First Avenue Monday afternoon near downtown Chilliwack.

By Tuesday morning, those low prices had given way to a price around $1.529 per litre at five gas stations on the north side of Chilliwack, including Shell, Canco, Petro Canada, and Chevron.

In the past week, the Esso on Yale Road near the social assistance office switched hands to Centex, meaning PC Optimum points users will have to find another Esso gas station where they can use their points for discounts on gas. Centex had a price of $1.329 a litre on Monday morning, Dec. 12.

Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / PML / The Esso on Yale Road near the social assistance office is now a Centex gas station.

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The price increase comes just a month after Chilliwack Councillor Bud Mercer asked city staff to make contact with Chilliwack gas station owners as to why the city’s gas prices seem to be higher than the rest of the Fraser Valley.

Councillor Mercer expressed frustration at Chilliwack having to pay more for gas when its municipal counterparts to the west have a transit tax factored into the cost of its gas and don’t pay much higher retail prices.

“I’d like council support to ask staff to reach out to a delegation of gas station owners,” said Mercer, who was first elected to council in 2018. “I know what I’m about to say is normally the realm of the Competition Bureau of Canada, but I’m sure the citizens of Chilliwack would be interested in hearing if gas station owners, or a delegation of them, would appear before council. I know we’d all be interested to try trying to understand and comprehend the rationale that [our] gas prices are often similar or higher than communities to the west, like Surrey, when we’re not paying the GVRD tax and they are, but often our prices are higher than theirs.”

Councillor Jason Lum, who was recently reelected as the highest vote getter in October’s municipal elections, was equally supportive of Mercer’s motion on November 15 and suggested getting the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) involved.

Councillor Mercer said he recognized that gas stations owners wouldn’t be required to speak in front of council, but it would be helpful for him to understand what was happening behind the scenes.

“I know they don’t have to attend to explain, but I feel compelled representing … the citizens of Chilliwack,” Mercer said. “I’m sure our city would be interested in hearing the logic behind it. Maybe there’s a good answer, maybe there’s no good answer.”