A gas analyst is pointing to gas wars for Leamington's break at the pump.
Dan McTeague with GasBuddy.com says it hasn't been uncommon for prices to be 10 cents cheaper in Leamington than in Windsor in recent weeks.
However, he says that difference may be squeezed slightly with prices expected to rise two cents by Friday night.
McTeague says whether you're buying in Leamington, Windsor, Chatham, London or even Toronto — the gas at the pump costs the business pretty much the same at about 99 cents a litre.
"You see a 10, 12-cent difference — it's one retailer giving away what it costs to run the station in favour of getting them to come in and buy other things because there's no way you sell gasoline at a loss and stay in business much longer," says McTeague.
A gas pump is seen in this AM800 News stock photo. (Photo courtesy iStock/dkhoriaty)
McTeague says Leamington is prone to gas wars as many of the stations fight for customers to sell other — more profitable — items. He says it's indicative of where the industry is headed.
"When you consider in the past year companies like Shell, more recently Esso — the largest brand in Canada — sold all of its gas stations, a good number of them in Ontario to Mac's Milk, you get a pretty good idea that selling gasoline as a standalone business isn't a very profitable one if even the big boys have gotten out of the business."
McTeague says it's going to cost companies another two cents a litre to offer gas at the pumps come the weekend.
"That's likely to be passed onto motorists sooner rather than later," says McTeague. "If you happen to see 97.9 as a price, don't think about it — do fill up, but that doesn't mean you should panic."
GasBuddy.com has the cheapest gas price in Leamington listed at 97.9 cents a litre as of Wednesday night while in Windsor, the cheapest price hits 100.9 cents a litre.
However, some prices in Windsor, Lakeshore and LaSalle are listed at 110.9 cents a litre while the highest price is reported in Harrow at 111.5 cents a litre.