Victoria-area drivers were walloped in their wallets today as gas prices jumped overnight.
Many service stations in the capital region pumped up prices to $1.249 per litre today, from $1.178 yesterday — a jump of more than seven cents.
Costco in Langford, typically offering lower prices in this region, had a posted price this morning of $1.229.
Even with the latest increase, motorists are still paying less than a year ago when local prices were at $1.418.
B.C.’s average price is $1.22, states GasBuddy.com, a price-tracking website. The average for the country is $1.098.
Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said the price boost is the result of a combination of higher crude prices and rising wholesale gasoline prices.
The new pump price was really a “delayed reaction to the mounting prices on the markets, which have driven crude and wholesale gasoline prices much higher,” he said from Toronto.
Retailers had absorbed the increase and watched their margins shrink as these price rise, finally moving today, he said. The pump price of $1.179 had held steady for close to a month. “That price inevitably had to come up.”
cjwilson@timescolonist.com
