The Town of Bonnyville is finding itself without options after a scheduled meeting with local gas companies to explain why gas is so much cheaper in Cold Lake didn’t have anyone from the industry show up.
Councillors said they weren’t surprised by this and still haven’t gotten a good answer as to why gas in Bonnyville can be as high as ten cents a litre more than in other nearby communities. Mayor Gene Soboloewski said one vendor told him it was supply and demand but wouldn’t elaborate further while others mentioned a price war in Cold Lake south but weren’t able to say why similar factors weren’t in play in Bonnyville. Either way, he says there’s very little they can do about it.
“The bottom line is that council doesn’t have very many options available to it as far as regulating prices. Basically, we’re on the outside as much as everybody else is… Essentially there doesn’t appear to be too much an appetite by any local fuel retailers to explain what the devil’s going on or figure if they want match prices or be competitive with Cold Lake.”
Council was unanimous in their concerns with the effect of gas prices on the local economy, sharing anecdotes of Bonnyvillers they knew heading to Cold Lake to do their shopping where they can save a significant amount of fuel money.