By Thia James

Gas price plunge means fuel savings for City

Jan 16, 2015 | 5:49 AM

The steep fall in fuel prices has been a boon for the City of Prince Albert’s budget.

The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate – light sweet crude oil – closed at US$47.92 on Wednesday, off of its most recent lows.  The drop off in crude oil prices began in July, when it reached over the $100 a barrel mark.

It’s meant low pump prices for the average driver, and for the City of Prince Albert it’s meant 25 per cent fuel savings. On Jan. 15 2014, the City paid $1.059 per litre (/L) for gasoline and $1.275/L for diesel. On Thursday, the City paid 77.9 cents/L for gasoline and 98.9 cents/L for diesel.

The savings is considerable, considering fuel for the City’s fleet is the biggest product purchase made, according to Alain Trudel, operations manager with the department of public works. The city’s also experienced a milder winter with less snow, he pointed out.

“Combine that with fuel savings and less equipment running and it’s going to impact the budget … quite favourably for this year, if it holds like it is right now,” he said.

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And its fleet includes all City operations: the Prince Albert Fire Department, the Prince Albert Police Service, the City’s parks division within the department of community services and the department of public works.

The public works department’s fleet includes half ton trucks, graders, salters and other large vehicles.

In recent history, the City has spent a considerable amount for fuel.

“Fuel is a big cost to all of our operations, and as you know, over the last few years, that price has been climbing and climbing,” Trudel said.

Indeed, the City’s fleet uses a considerable amount of fuel.

Individually, the large pieces of equipment burn a significant amount hourly. Trudel used the example of a grader that may operate using 10-15 gallons, or 45 L, of fuel per hour.

Overall, Prince Albert’s fleet of city vehicles used 375,000 L of gasoline, and 594,000 L of diesel last year. In 2014, the City purchased a total of 825,000 L of fuel. 

“It’s quite a large part of the operating budget,” Trudel said.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames