Gas Regulation

In my province of Nova Scotia, Gas Regulation has been recently put forth. For the past while our prices were jumping from $1.12/L to $1.29/L from week to week. It has really been up and down for the past while and consumers were growing tired of the extreme fluctuation. So Premier Rodney MacDonald and his Conservative government initiated the gas regulation to the people of Nova Scotia.

Premier Rodney MacDonald said regulation means price stability, not lower prices.

The regulation plan, based on the Prince Edward Island model, calls for consumers to be given a warning about price increases.

But in the Nova Scotia version, if international fuel prices spike up or down significantly, oil companies can contact the province and indicate they need to interrupt the two-week cycle to change the price.

Richard Hurlburt, minister of Service Nova Scotia and municipal relations, did not say what he meant by "significantly." "We'll be looking at the market place in New York. We also want to make sure the retailers are involved in this, and that's why my department will be going out and doing some consultation before July 1," Hurlburt said.

His department will be responsible for setting gas prices until the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board takes over. The board will hold public hearings later this fall.

www.cbc.ca...

Well in the last two weeks, Gas has dropped significantly and is selling for about $1/L now. I understand Gas Regulation is not the prime contriber here, but may remain a factor it keeping our price down.

Do you believe in the government regulating gas prices? It ensures that gas prices will not fluctuate as much, but it does deny the possibilty of gas prices ever going back to what they once were. However, I am under the impression the price we see today is the best we ever will. A dollar a litre in Canada is something I have come to accept.

So what of Gas Regulation? Are you a fan? Or is it something you would want to stay away from.

In my opinion;

Gas regulation should be about conservation of remaining oil supplies and decreasing dependancy/demand.

IE, they should be higher!

Whether or not you believe that we are facing peak oil (and I honestly don't see how people can doubt it), we are a world addicted to petrochemicals. We know they are bad for us (polution, enabling oil cartels to dominate). I believe fully in the idea of higher gas prices through higher gas taxes and using those taxes to help fund alternative fuel/power production research, especially here in Canada. Commercial shipping should be the only exemption in order to prevent price shock on food/comodities across the board.

That would be responcible gas price regulation.