While they still aren't aligning with Calgary, prices at the Husky station this morning were posted at $1.13 a litre though the change had yet to be reflected on GasBuddy.com just after 7:30 a.m. GasBuddy.com posted Cochrane Co-op had prices at $1.07 a litre.
Gas stations in the city and across the province dropped prices yesterday as the 6.73 cents per litre Carbon Tax was eliminated though the rack price for refined gasoline rose by six cents per litre to 86 cents per litre.
Dan McTeague, senior analyst with GasBuddy, told CochraneToday.com that the primary difference in Cochrane prices is the margin prices – usually between 6 and 10 cents per litre. McTeague suggested that big box store gas stations such as Costco have helped to drive prices in the city down and that stations are selling gasoline at a loss and cross subsidizing the losses through in-store sales.
The price of gasoline including taxes, but excluding any markup for the stations, yesterday was around $1.15 per litre. Excising the Carbon Tax from Wednesday's prices would have set the price of gasoline at about 1.09 a litre (assuming stations still had the cheaper gas in the tank on Thursday). Today's Calgary rack rate for gas would put the at-cost price of gasoline at approximately $1.13 per litre.
GasBuddy had pump prices in Northwest Calgary this morning posted at an average of $1.07 per litre.
The disparity in prices between the city and Cochrane have gained a lot of attention on Facebook and in the media as Cochranites threaten to boycott stations in town while prices continue to be set so much higher than those in other communities.
A poll started by CochraneToday.com yesterday afternoon had garnered 92 votes with 86 respondents indicating they would be boycotting higher prices in town.
