For immediate release
09 December, 2022
MHA for Torngat Mountains, Lela Evans, is demanding that the Public Utilities Board follow it is own policy on price differential for the price of fuel on the North Coast of Labrador.
“This summer the PUB enforced a price freeze on our fuel forcing us to pay up to 80 cents more a litre than other Zones, including the Avalon. This created much hardship and disparity for people in my district,” says Evans. “Finally, today the freeze is lifted but instead of getting relief my residents are still being gouged by the failure of the PUB to follow their own policies. I am calling for an immediate price correction.”
According to the PUB website the Price Zone Differentials between the Avalon (Zone 1) and Coastal Labrador North (Zone 14) is set at 27.81 cents more per litre. Therefore residents should be only paying $1.83 not the $2.26 per litre that they are currently being charged. That is a gouging of 42.59 cents per litre.
“We have suffered enough, living all summer under the crushing price freeze that reduced our ability to hunt and fish. I always believed that the PUB’s mandate was to ensure fairness, not to help ensure businesses make a profit. Not following their own price differential policy is an action that benefits businesses while forcing my residents to continue to ration fuel needed to hunt for food and to heat their homes.”
“Not being able to afford a tank of gasoline for your snowmobile on the North Coast means not being able to gather wood to heat your house nor able to hunt and provide food for your family. The PUB must consistently apply its own policies to ensure price fairness for people living on the North Coast.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca