Calgary, Edmonton gas prices rise, provincial tax partially reinstated

Gas prices in Calgary and Edmonton rose over the last week as the province reinstated a portion of its fuel tax Saturday.

The government stopped collecting its 13 cents per litre fuel tax in April amid extremely high oil prices driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and several other global factors.

While Albertans once again have to pay 4.5 cents per litre in taxes at the pumps, the government says it will continue its fuel tax relief program until at least the end of 2022. The province will not collect 8.5 cents per litre in taxes on gasoline or diesel until it revisits the program in mid-December, and decides how to proceed.

When the province announced on Sept. 21 it would be bringing back some taxes on fuel, average prices in both cities were below $1.40 per litre, according to GasBuddy.

Since then, average prices in Calgary and Edmonton have risen by roughly 20 cents per litre.

As of Monday morning, Calgary’s average price for a litre of regular gas was recorded at around $1.59. Edmonton’s average price for a litre of regular was just under $1.58.

A week ago, GasBuddy recorded average prices of just under $1.44 and just under $1.42 in Calgary and Edmonton respectively.

A statement from the government says the recent increases to gas prices are due to “a series of unexpected disruptions at refineries on the west coast and in the Great Lakes region, as well as the plains states in the U.S., including fires and maintenance delays. These disruptions have impacted mostly western provinces in Canada. Manitoba and British Columbia have been impacted the most, with an average gasoline price jump of between 15 and 45 cents a litre over the past week.”