Lac La Biche and District Chamber of Commerce board directors got some answers — but not enough to fill the tank — at last Thursday's closed-door meeting they organized with local gasoline retailers.
"We still have a few questions about why prices, just in our community, are higher than other places," said Chamber president Lina Yadlowsky following a noon-hour meeting organized by the local Chamber of Commerce to try and pump out some answers to the local prices at the pumps. "We learned a lot about the background of the fuel business — and I think we have to perhaps go to the bigger companies now and ask some questions."
"... we are doing our part, and not sitting on our hands." - Chamber President Lina Yadlowsky
Much of what was said during the hour-long meeting, said the Chamber president, was being guarded as there may be some privacy issues. Several retailers sent notes to Chamber of Commerce officials leading up to the meeting saying they would not be attending since they were not allowed to discuss individual pricing contracts in the presence of other retailers. But Yadlowsky said she heard enough at the meeting from the information provided to take the questions to the next level.
Some general information that came out of Thursday's meeting was that some local retailers have to adjust the price at their pumps to match variances cost they pay to fill their own tanks with the supplied fuel. It was said that wholesale prices to retailers can change by as much as $10,000 per 50,000 litre tanker truck within a week. It was also learned that some retailers operate on fixed profit margins under contracts based on litres sold.
"We'd like to take some followup questions to the suppliers of our local service stations," said Yadlowsky. "We don't know what will happen if we start asking them questions about our local prices, but we are doing our part, and not sitting on our hands. We want to help our business community, and if we can help lower costs for retailers and consumers — that's something."
She hopes to have a formal letter drafted in the coming week under the Chamber of Commerce letterhead that will be sent out to fuel suppliers like Shell, Petro Canada and Esso.
"There are so many questions," said Yadlowsky, "but we are trying to get the best results for all of our businesses."
Pump prices
On Thursday, the day of the meeting, fuel prices were at $1.06 at most Lac La Biche stations. According to the online fuel comparison website GasBuddy.com, the low price for a litre of regular gasoline in Edmonton was $87.9 on the same day. The same website reported a litre of fuel an Esso in Cold Lake was at 95.9, the same price as the average costs in Fort McMurray.
Attend general Chamber meeting
A briefing of the fuel retail pricing meeting will be given at the upcoming general Chamber meeting on February 27. There are many more topics on the agenda for the meeting, which Yadlowsky hopes will draw interest from local business representatives and residents.
"We'd invite all businesses or residents to the meeting. We'll talk about what we are doing next, and looking for volunteers and new members," she said.
