Scarcely a week goes by in Montreal when we don't tell you about a sharp spike in the price of gas. Last week, there was nothing to tell.
Typically, the price of gas shoots up around 10 cents a litre in Montreal on Monday or Tuesday, before prices start inching backwards, by a cent or two a day, before the next jump happens.
But last week, the increase didn't happen, but prices have continued to drop steadily.
On Oct. 9, the price of a litre of regular shot up to 144.9 cents. On Tuesday morning, you could find gas selling for below 120 a litre.
So why did gas stations seem to skip a week when it comes to price increases? Dan McTeague, the gas-price analyst behind GasBuddy.com. chalks that up to service stations attempting to compete with big-box retailers with gas bars like Costco, which sells many more things besides gas, and therefore, can afford to sell gas almost at cost.
But conventional service stations aren't able to compete like that for long, because they simply aren't making money. McTeague predicts that price increase could come as early as Tuesday, with prices shooting up to the mid-130s.
"Sooner or later, gas stations have to come up for air," McTeague says. "It's likely you're going to see anywhere from a 10 to a 13 cent correction upwards. Take advantage of this while you can."
Gas prices on the decline for the 13th day in a row. Cheapest on the island is the Esso on Dorval Ave. Prices expected to jump as early as today. #CJAD800 pic.twitter.com/yBrm0nXjUT
— Matt Gilmour (@MGilmourMTL) October 23, 2018