Wilsons Fuel
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The Wilson Fuel Company Limited (also known as Wilsons Fuel) is an independent petroleum wholesaler, distributor and retailer headquartered in Truro, Nova Scotia. Wilsons brands itself as the largest independent home heating fuel and gasoline retailer in Atlantic Canada.
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[edit] History
Wilsons Fuel traces its history to a mercantile trade company founded in the early 1800s. It branched out into construction during the early 1900s and was involved in the reconstruction of Dartmouth following the Halifax Explosion, and was the general contractor for many of Nova Scotia's historic buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company gradually left the construction industry and began to supply coal to residential and commercial customers for heating. The company adopted its present name of Wilson Fuel Company Limited during the 1950s when fuel oil replaced coal.
The company expanded its residential and commercial fuel oil distribution and wholesale business through the 1960s-2000s and branched out into the retail petroleum business during the 1990s.
Wilsons Fuel owns and operates 32 company service stations, 9 "Wilsons Gas Stops," and 23 stations using the Esso brand. They also distribute gasoline to 271 independent retail stations in Atlantic Canada. Some company owned and operated stations have convenience stores and fast food outlets. The home heating fuel division also sells propane and other products.
The company's vice-president Dave Collins is often quoted by Nova Scotian media discussing that province's petroleum pricing, particularly when prices increase.
[edit] Petroleum price regulation controversy
The provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick regulate the retail prices of petroleum products (gasoline, diesel, propane, home heating fuel). PEI has been regulating its prices since the 1980s and Newfoundland since the 1990s, however NS and NB only implemented price regulation in 2006 in response to wild price fluctuations over the winter of 2005-2006.
Wilsons has been consistently opposed to price regulation based on the company's belief that customers benefit from a free market price. Wilsons moved into the PEI marketplace in early 2005 after purchasing several Esso stations from Imperial Oil; this coming after several years of studying how the long-established price regulation scheme was working in that province. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, wholesale international prices for petroleum increased dramatically, forcing Wilsons and other independent (ie. non-refining) retailers to adjust their prices accordingly, except that this wasn't possible in the regulated retail market in PEI. On September 1, Wilsons Fuel announced that it would stop supplying fuel to its company-owned stations and its independent retail customers since the company would be taking a severe financial loss if it were to do so. In response, IRAC held an emergency hearing and set the wholesale price higher [1] .
Wilsons Fuel has continued to voice concern at increased price regulation in Atlantic Canada in the months since the price fluctuations following Hurricane Katrina.
