Gas prices typically make everyone upset, whether it’s the thought of having to endure another seemingly random hike at the pump, or simply noticing that the station down the street would have saved you ten cents a litre if only you’d been a little more patient on the drive to work in the morning.

It’s also accepted dogma that gasoline will always be more expensive in Canada than it is for our neighbours down south, whether it’s because of our higher rate of taxation (ranging between 25 and 45 percent, depending on the province), or the fact that we don’t pay for a massive expeditionary force to maintain geopolitical stability in oil producing regions around the world.

Few, however, expect to have their wallets dinged because a group of bureaucrats simply weren’t doing their jobs properly. And yet, that’s what has been happening in Quebec over the course of at least the last three years according to a story published in La Journal du Quebec.

We’re not talking a few tenths of a cent here and there, either. Due to a persistent miscalculation in the real-world price refineries in Quebec were paying per barrel of oil, Quebecois motorists have been forking over as much as 15 cents to 20 cents more per litre than they should have been. Depending on the retail price of gasoline at the time, that’s as much as a 20 percent premium at each and every fill-up according to La Journal.

How does such a colossal screw-up like that happen once, let alone persist for 36 months (and counting)? It all ties in to the formula used by Quebec’s Régie de l’énergie, which sets base fuel prices for the entire province. The price blends 59% of the cost of purchasing a barrel of oil plus 41% taxes – but the method of calculation relies on a single faulty assumption that has had the effect of bilking drivers in the province out of millions of dollars.

The Régie de l’énergie elected to hinge its pricing plan on the market cost of a single classification of oil called Brent, which is bought from either Algeria or the North Sea, which are the two largest foreign suppliers of oil to the province. The thing is, since 2015 the Quebec refinery market has begun to shift towards Western Canadian Select, which costs significantly less per barrel.

How much less? As of this week it cost around $80 to buy a barrel of Brent, which is just over double the price tag affixed to our own domestic oil. With some refineries, such as Suncor now buying 66% Western Canadian Select, there’s a formidable gap between reality and the fantasies of the Régie de l’énergie.

Do you see where this is going? Despite the fact that relying exclusively on the cost of imported oil no longer reflected the actual economics of the gasoline market, the Régie de l’énergie didn’t bother to update any of its policies or practices. In fact, even after being confronted by La Journal earlier this month, the Régie couldn’t even be bothered to comment on the situation. This is despite the fact that one of its own publications from 2017 recognized that the Brent calculation was no longer appropriate for market calculations, and that an alternative had to be found.

There is a counter-argument to this entire saga, however, put forth by another Quebec newspaper, La Soleil. Referencing the same document as La Journal, it claims that a closer reading reveals the Brent crude oil price is used to estimate the margin for refineries – and that the ‘prix à la rampe de chargement,’ or the price of the gasoline as it leaves the refinery, is what is counted when the Régie makes its minimum price calculation. La Soleil concludes that the price per barrel therefore has no, or minimal impact, on official fuel pricing, with a possible difference of only a few cents per litre resulting from the Régie methodology.

It’s an intriguing rebuttal, but it comes with a glaring caveat: consumers have no transparency into how the refinery margin – set by the Régie, and based on the outdated oil sourcing assumptions – affects the ‘prix à la rampe de chargement,’ which La Soleil says is the most important factor in provincial gasoline pricing.

Either way, Quebec finds itself deep in a gas price controversy – and the Régie‘s silence on the matter is certainly not helping matters. When we reached out to the agency for comment on this piece, spokesperson Véronique Dubois scolded us by saying that the Régie “will not comment on the piece…..[and] we would have given you the necessary information and explanations had you contacted us before publishing,” before going on to refer us to the article in La Soleil, which confusingly does not contain any official statement from the government group either.

It’s a common complaint that the government occasionally plunges its hands a little too deep into the pockets of its citizens. The sheer inertia of the Régie de l’énergie, however, moves well beyond grumbling and grousing about the high cost of living. The Régie has yet to make any moves to alter the calculations in its evaluation process, which means that as you read this Quebecois could still be paying over the market rate for their gasoline. Each day of delay would seem to tack yet another zero onto the inevitable class-action lawsuit against the government agency’s negligence.