Gas - Save Money and Help the Environment

This page will help you understand how you can save money and contribute to a healthy environment. The more you know about your gas, your car, and your choices, the more you can control your costs and your impact on the planet.

What is the Price of Gas

Gas prices vary from place to place depending on a range of factors, such as local demand, transportation costs and levels of provincial tax. For information on retail gas, diesel and propane prices in 44 Canadian cities, including their change from the previous week, visit MJ Ervin & Associates Weekly Pump Price Survey.

What's in the Price of Gas?

The price you pay at the pump is made up of a number of components (e.g. taxes, crude prices, refining margins, marketing margins). Information on these various elements, including pump price breakdowns by region, can be found in FuelFacts, also published by MJ Ervin & Associates.

Tips to Help You Save on Gas

Motorists can lower their gas bills and help create a healthier environment through changes in driving habits, proper vehicle care, and by making use of alternative forms of transportation. Consider:

• When purchasing a new or used vehicle, the choice you make today will either save you money (through reduced fuel consumption) or cost you money for years to come.
• Use public transit whenever possible. In addition to saving you money, a single city bus can take 40 vehicles off the road, save 70,000 litres of fuel and keep nine tonnes of pollutants out of the atmosphere each year.
• Idling is an enormous waste of fuel and money. Drivers should turn their engines off if they are going to be stopped for 10 seconds or more. In the winter, you should need no more than 30 seconds of warm up idling before driving away.
• Keeping your vehicle in top operating condition will save you fuel and money, reduce your long-term maintenance costs and minimize harmful exhaust emissions.

For more helpful tips on buying, driving and maintaining vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and address Climate Change, visit the Natural Resources Canada Office of Energy Efficiency Web site.

Additional Resources

While the federal government does not regulate the retail price of gasoline, the Competition Act, administered by the Competition Bureau, does include provisions against price fixing, price maintenance and abusive behaviour by a dominant firm. Information on the Bureau and its activities in the area of gasoline pricing can be found on their Web site. Here are some links:

• Competition Bureau Concludes Examination into Complaints about High Gasoline Prices (March 2005)
• Competition Bureau - Gas prices (2004)

For in-depth analysis on gas prices in Canada, please see the 2001 study by the Conference Board of Canada, The Final Fifteen Feet of Hose (PDF format).