It's been a tough couple of weeks when it comes to the price we're paying at the gas pump.

The carbon tax kicked in January 1 and Dan McTeague with gasbuddy.com says before that we got a jolt in the price.

"What happened is a lot of our gas price direction is based on the wider U.S., mid-west market and a week before Christmas or so we got news that not one, but two refineries in the Chicago area, both experienced malfunctions with the gasoline producing units and as a result there was a real concern about supply problems," McTeague says. "That has a direct bearing on our prices here in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba."

He says prices show up about $0.30 a gallon and with all the conversions that's what led to the first increase just before Christmas and then January 1 the Alberta carbon tax kicked in.

McTeague says we're looking at the same wholesale prices of gasoline at least until Monday of next week during an extended cold snap when people are warming up their vehicles for longer periods before driving..

"No global warming here, and of course that does mean that consumption is up, it also means in January when we don't traditionally see gasoline prices creating a bit of a problem we're seeing that now," he says. "Alberta of course now has the prices which are much higher than neighbouring provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and I've been on this good earth a long time and I've never seen a time when Alberta's prices were more expensive than neighbouring provinces."

McTeague says, just like the cold weather, there's no immediate relief in sight.