What IRAC is, and how it works
CBC
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission is an innocuously named institution that has its hands on the controls for a lot of the money P.E.I. residents spend every year.
From gas prices to rent to car insurance, electricity and sewer and garbage collection rates — pretty much anywhere the province sees a need to regulate prices — the first stop is the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, or IRAC, as it is commonly known.
The commission was established in 1991 with the amalgamation of several different agencies playing the regulator role in disparate areas: the Public Utilities Commission, the Land Use Commission, and the Office of the Director of Residential Rental Property.
Commissioners are appointed by cabinet, and IRAC delivers an annual report to the Department of Education.
Since 1991, IRAC has added other responsibilities. Here's a brief breakdown of what it does:
IRAC's most visible role is probably setting the price of gasoline, diesel, heating oil and propane under the authority of the provincial Petroleum Products Act.
This happens every Friday, but there can be unscheduled changes when market conditions are changing quickly.
On its website, IRAC lists regulated prices for gasoline going back to January 1998 (when gas was about 60 cents a litre).
Back then, IRAC set the price monthly, but increasingly volatile markets saw reviews happen more frequently: twice a month starting in 2004, and then once a week starting in 2019.
Prices are based on what's known as the rack price. In P.E.I., that's the price charged to trucks at the oil tanks on the shore of Charlottetown Harbour. Added to this are various taxes, and profits for wholesalers and retailers.
The rack price is typically higher than benchmark prices used on the mainland, which are set in New York. Most of the time, that leads to higher prices for Islanders.
You can find a more detailed explanation of how that works here.
IRAC attracted a lot of attention last fall for its role in rent control.
Every year, the regulator sets a maximum allowable percentage for rent increases. In October, it announced a record high increase, up to 10.8 per cent for units heated with oil. The increase was ultimately overruled by the housing minister.