Pump prices in the Okanagan and Kamloops have been creeping up, but maybe not for long

Gas prices have been edging up in the Kamloops and the Okanagan while a price war is being waged in the Kootenays, but those market dynamics may not last long.

Canadians for Affordable Energy’s Dan McTeague says the Thompson-Okanagan, and East and West Kootenays, should be paying between $1.12 and $1.19 for a litre of regular fuel with today’s wholesale gas price at $1.08.

“Anything below that, they are losing their shirts,” McTeague says.

A look at GasBuddy.com today, June 25, shows prices in southern British Columbia for a litre of regular fuel as follows:

• Kamloops $110.9 to $113.9
• Vernon $112.9
• Kelowna $112.9 to $114.9
• Penticton $112.9 to $119.9
• Trail $97.8 to $99.9
• Golden $110.9 to $113.9
• Merritt $111.9 to $116.9
• Princeton $116.9 to $119.9

Prices in Kamloops jumped from last week when you could buy a litre of regular for between $99.0 to $105.9.

The prices in Vernon and Kelowna are virtually unchanged from last week, while prices in Penticton are up a few cents per litre.

McTeague says fuel to the Kootenays could be trucked in from Calgary or from Kamloops, but either way, at $97.8 to $99.9 cents per litre, service stations are losing money.

“That’s even taking into account a potential price decrease that should see wholesale prices drop by around three cents effective tomorrow,” he says.

The price drop comes on the heels of market fears of another decrease in demand for fuel caused by a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the United States.

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