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The Holt Liberals have found a way to keep their promise of lower gas prices just days before Christmas.
Cabinet ministers adopted an order Thursday that changes how the Energy and Utilities Board calculates the maximum price of gasoline – a change that the government says should reduce prices by as much as seven cents a litre next week.
The change to regulations under the Petroleum Products Pricing Act should bring the per-litre price down at the EUB’s next scheduled price setting at midnight next Thursday, Dec. 18.
The fix gives Premier Susan Holt a second chance to claim an affordability win on gas prices.
Holt promised in last year’s election to eliminate the cost-of-carbon adjuster adopted by the previous Higgs government that required the EUB to calculate the cost of federal clean fuel regulations for producers and pass them on to customers.
The adjuster was officially eliminated Dec. 1, but the board replaced it with an equivalent fuel surcharge for customers after gas stations claimed they would be forced to absorb the cost.
Based on less expensive blend of gasoline and ethanol
The change adopted Thursday requires the EUB to base its pricing on a variety of gasoline called E10, a less expensive blend of gasoline and ethanol commonly used in the province, rather than conventional gasoline.
Holt told reporters that a member of her staff was going through the price-setting regulations “line by line” on Tuesday, looking for another way to achieve the promised cost reduction, and came upon the reference to E10 and conventional gasoline.
“I’m incredibly happy that someone who was looking at the very details of the act found this opportunity and we could move quickly on it to save New Brunswickers five, maybe six, maybe seven cents come next Friday,” she said.
Nova Scotia made the same change in 2024, something that apparently escaped the notice of policy makers in New Brunswick at the time.
Holt’s officials drafted a cabinet order quickly on Thursday, with ministers waiving the normal practice of posting regulatory changes online for 28 days for public review.
It was signed by the lieutenant-governor later the same day.
That allowed the Liberals to announce the change Thursday night and for several Liberal MLAs to gloat about it repeatedly in the legislature on Friday morning, the final sitting day before the Christmas break.
Opposition skeptical
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives were skeptical, pointing out Holt promised lower gas prices once before this fall, when the adjuster was removed, without it happening.
“We’ve heard these announcements over and over and over again,” said PC MLA Kris Austin.
“I know they’re quite proud of the announcement, but wording matters: ‘expected to save,’ ‘could save,’ ‘up to.’ … Be definitive about it if that’s what’s going to happen.”
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Liberals find ‘opportunity’ to lower gas prices
An amendment to regulations created by the Petroleum Products Pricing Act will change the way the Energy and Utilities Board calculates gas prices.
Green Party Leader David Coon was more enthusiastic.
“It’s great to have a surprise just before Christmas like this,” he said. “Who would have thought of it?”
Coon said the widespread blending of ethanol with gasoline shows that federal clean fuel regulations have succeeded in pushing refineries to produce lower-emitting fuels.
He said the EUB’s use of a higher-cost fuel in its price-setting formula probably means New Brunswickers have been paying too much for cheaper, ethanol-blended gas.
Holt said that was likely true but only in the last year or two, as the E10 blended gas became the dominant product available in the province.
