Gas prices continue to fall in Saskatchewan

Provincial gas prices have seen a drop in recent days, diving to their lowest point in months. Hallee Mandryk has the details.

Gas prices across Saskatchewan are currently sitting at the lowest price residents have seen in months.

“We’ve gone away from summer blend gasoline to winter blend gasoline. That’s a savings of about 9 or $0.10 a litre,” explained Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.

“That’s one of the main reasons why we’ve seen prices drop. The Canadian dollar has strengthened a tiny bit, until very recently where it’s weakened again.”

Saskatoon prices are sitting as low as $1.08 per litre, and $1.17 in Regina.

McTeague also shared Saskatchewan fuel prices typically sit on the lower end compared to the rest of Canada, as many gas stations make up the difference through other retail purchases.

“We also see gas stations engaging what I call gas bar shenanigans,” added McTeague.

“They’re willing to throw away and trade away what it costs for them to operate their gas bars in the hope that you’ll come into the store, buy their chips, coffee, beef jerky, whatever the case may be. And they make more money on that.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

The price drop was a pleasant surprise to those who spoke with CTV News. Saskatoon residents shared while they appreciate saving some money, many opt to not look to closely at the prices because they must fuel up regardless.

“We have to fill up when needed because we have kids in seven different activities. But we try to save when we can,” one woman said.

“It’s not gonna make a difference. If I pay attention, it’s not gonna make it go lower and it’s not gonna make it go higher. But I have to have gas, so I just pay it,” a man told CTV News.

McTeague shared the dip in prices is likely to be short lived, due to a production issue in the United States.

“In the Chicago refinery area, BP’s Whitting plant had a fire and it set gasoline futures up about $0.20 a gallon,” he said.

“That was good for about an eight cents a liter increase. So we haven’t seen that baked into the price yet. We may very well get that if things don’t turn around quickly.”

For those looking for the best time to purchase fuel year-round, McTeague shared many cities across Canada lower their prices after 6 p.m.

“Because gas stations often make enough money to cover the cost for the day, they shed those retail margins. For gas stations, there’s an incentive - if they sell more gasoline, they can increase their volume of sales. Their supplier will often give an extra two cents or maybe even a three cent discount on the next fill up.”