New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities Board didn’t wait long to make the fuel pricing change needed to make gas cheaper before Christmas. Last Tuesday, staff members in Premier Susan Holt’s office were going through the Petroleum Products Pricing Act and noticed the EUB was calculating the maximum price of fuel based on conventional gas. The blend of gasoline more commonly being used across the province is E10 – a cheaper blend of ethanol and gasoline. On Thursday, cabinet changed the regulation. Holt told reporters it would go into effect on Friday, Dec. 19, but on Saturday, Dec. 13, the EUB put out a notice setting new petroleum prices, which triggered the change to the benchmark price a week early. Initially, it was estimated that the price would drop five to seven cents, based on the market. Holt wrote on social media that the drop is 7.9 cents. That’s close to the amount her government was hoping New Brunswickers would see in savings with the removal of the cost of carbon adjuster. But the EUB replaced it with another surcharge because some retailers said they might not survive the hit to their bottom line. “We’ve said all along that New Brunswickers shouldn’t pay a penny more at the pumps than necessary, and today, those savings are going straight into your pockets,” Holt wrote on social media. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
