Most N.W.T. consumers paying higher prices at the pumps

Northwest Territories residents fueling upat private gas stations are feeling price shocks, but communities with mass-purchased fuel at government-specified rates are not yet vulnerable to the sudden spikes.

In Norman Wells, where Esso sets the price, gas station managerJim Beroud said regular unleaded is$2.30 per litre, and filling a pick-up truck can cost upwards of $250.

In Behchoko, Archie Romie Wetadeehposted to Facebook with a photo of the pumps at Northern Store, owned by the North West Company,where it cost him $263 to fill up his tank at $1.99 per litre.

At the Big River Gas Station in Fort Providence, a Shell distributor, gas is $1.86, up from $1.70 two weeks ago.

Hay Riverresident Stephanie Nason, who recently made a necessary trip to Yellowknife, spent $216 to fill up in Hay River, and $132 to drive back from Yellowknife,she said in a Facebook message.

Gene Oudzi, who runs Gene and Son's Hardware in Colville Lake, said the gas prices went up from $1.91 this fallto $2.16 per litre. They haven't been as exposed torecent price shocks because the government sets the price.

The territorial governmentpurchases fuel and delivers it to Colville Lakeon the winter road.

The cost is still tough on consumers like Bobby Manuel, who spent almost $300 to fill up his F-150.

Like Manuel, Oudzi said he hopes the prices will not rise in the future.

Global oil prices have been impacted by the pandemic, and most recently, Russia's war on Ukraine.

But 16 NWT communities have yet to be affected by those forces. In those communities, the territorial government supplies fuel and sets the prices. Those prices, set last fall, remain unchanged, according to Infrastructure Department spokesperson Laura Busch.