Sam Hemingway

Free Press Staff Writer

Sam King watched Wednesday afternoon as a gas pump at the Champlain Farms convenience store in downtown Burlington tallied the cost of filling up the tank of his Toyota Corolla.

A neon sign advertized the store's $3.65 per gallon price for unleaded — 30 cents more than what the same gallon of gas costs in Rutland.

"Everything's more expensive up here," said King, who grew up in Rutland but now lives in Burlington. "I live here. I'm paying taxes here, and I'm paying 30 cents more a gallon than down in Rutland. I'm not happy about it."

"I just think they're cashing in on the supply and demand in Burlington," he continued. "We've got a lot of tourism up here; we've got the college kids. Everything's more expensive here."

Janet Stackpole of Shelburne, filling up her car at the same pump a few minutes later, said she's not surprised gas costs more in Burlington.

"I assume the prices are higher here, simply because the amount of consumption has got to be bigger here," she said.

Two years after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., went on the attack against area gas suppliers, challenging them to explain why the fuel cost 25 cents a gallon more in Burlington than Rutland, little has changed.

Then, the price hovered around a low of $3.35 a gallon in Rutland versus $3.59 in Burlington. Wednesday, according to the independent fuel price monitoring site Vermontgas.com, the figure was $3.32 in Rutland and $3.63 in Burlington.

"There is no rational economic reason that gas prices are 30 cents higher in northwestern Vermont than they are in Rutland," Sanders said Wednesday.

Statewide, the average per-gallon gas price Wednesday was $3.55. The national average was $3.43.

Sanders said lower transportation costs might account for a small portion of the price differential between Rutland and Burlington. The biggest reason, he said, is a continuing lack of competition among gas suppliers in northwestern Vermont.

Most Burlington gas outlets receive their fuel from three main suppliers: S.B. Collins, Champlain Oil Co., and R.L Vallee Inc.

Joseph Choquette III of the Vermont Petroleum Association agreed that Rutland lately had become a "more competitive market," thanks to what he said was a "price war" going on among retail gas dealers there.

Choquette said Rutland also has a small price advantage over Burlington, because city fuel stations receive gas from the Albany, N.Y., terminal, which has a lower rack, or base, price than what is charged at the terminal in Burlington.

The Burlington terminal has a higher rack price because it has to pay extra money to transport gas by rail from Albany, Choquette said.

Gas below the average area price can be found in and around Chittenden County, but customers don't seem to be seeking out lower priced fuel, Choquette added.

"People can always show for lower priced gas, but they don't, for whatever reason," he said.

Sanders, in 2012, had expressed hope that Costco Wholesale Inc. soon would win permits to open a gas station next to its warehouse store in Colchester. Costco sells gas to members at many of its other outlets at prices well below competitors.

Costco's bid for permits under Act 250, the state's development control law, has been tied up in Environmental Court by two local gas wholesalers who claim the proposal poses a threat to nearby wetlands. The wholesalers also cite concerns about stormwater runoff and traffic.

A decision in the case is not expected until later this fall or early next year — and then would be subject to a potential appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court.

In the meantime, Sanders said Wednesday he plans to talk with local officials about the idea of having municipalities open up their town-only gas stations to the public.

Sanders pointed to the example of Somerset, Ky., which in July began selling gas at prices 15 cents a gallon less than area stations in response to complaints that local stores were charging too much.

"We've got to figure out how to establish more competition in northwestern Vermont," Sanders said.

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or shemingway@freepressmedia.com. Follow Sam on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SamuelHemingway.