Yellowknife gas prices stay high despite drops elsewhere

Yellowknife gas prices haven't budged while gas prices have been dropping elsewhere in Canada over the past few weeks, even in other N.W.T. communities.

Gas prices in the N.W.T. capital remain at 138.9, while prices on the other side of Great Slave Lake in Hay River have plummeted to about 112.9.

Gas stations in Yellowknife say they've kept their prices high because that's what their competition is doing, and managers saytolls on the Deh Cho Bridgehave actually caused their costs to increase.

Each fuel truck that crosses the Deh Cho Bridge heading north is charged about $275 dollars in tolls.

But gas price analysts say that's not very much at all.

"I think the bridge hasn't been that major factor on the price of fuel," said gas price analyst, Dustin Coupal.

"If it costs $300 for a truck to haul fuel across, really when you calculate it out based on how many litres a vehicle can haul, it's really only about half a cent a litre of cost that plays into that."

Coupal said what's driving prices up is actually the retailers themselves.

"The way gas prices work is essentially the price of fuel is what drives up the price, and then always the price falls through competition," he said.

"If you end up with a marketplace without a lot of competition, those prices never tend to come down and the only reason they would move up is if the cost essentially became more than 139."

He said that because Yellowknife is so far away from any major urban centers there's little competition but Hay River is close enough to northern Alberta to feel the pinch.