Higgs questioned why the EUB set the cost at a higher level than Nova Scotia's in July, only to lower it based on a market-driven formula the board adopted.

"We question, too, why ours was started at seven [cents] but now they've revised it down to 4½," he said in Question Period in response to Opposition Liberal Leader Susan Holt.

Holt has been hammering Higgs for months about the carbon adjustor, arguing he could provide cost-of-living relief to New Brunswickers by quickly repealing the legislation his government passed last December.

"If he cares so much about the price of gas for New Brunswickers, he has in his power the ability to reduce it today," she said Wednesday.

Holt's attacks were based on an interview Higgs gave Brunswick News this week, calling on the EUB to review the carbon-adjustor formula immediately.

"We didn't tell the utilities board to raise gas prices," Higgs told the newspaper. "I had no understanding what the number should be."

The carbon cost adjustor is currently 3.8 cents, or 4.3 cents with HST.

It went into effect in July in response to Ottawa's clean fuel regulations, which are meant to encourage oil refineries to produce lower-emitting fuels.

Refineries that comply earn credits but those that don't are forced to buy those credits, adding to their costs.

Never should have adopted adjustor: Holt

Last fall, the Higgs government passed legislation establishing the "carbon adjustor" as part of the EUB's weekly gas price setting.

The law says the board "shall set" the amount of the adjustor "using criteria and procedure" it chooses.

The board's formula uses the California low carbon fuel standard to estimate the cost difference between conventional diesel and diesel with renewable ingredients.

That led to an initial adjustor cost of 6.1 cents in July. Market changes have seen it trend down to 3.8 cents this week.

Higgs said in the legislature the board has "decided" to lower the charge so it's close to Nova Scotia's, but the reduction is in fact based on the formula.

Holt said the Progressive Conservative government never should have adopted the adjustor in the first place.

The federal regulation "was designed to be borne by producers and refineries" but Higgs "chose to make a special loophole to bypass that so that New Brunswickers would pay instead of refineries," she said.

This is not the first time his government has blamed the EUB for something the government itself has the power to change.

Last year, MLAs complained that Nova Scotia's gas price regulation system was quicker to reflect price drops than New Brunswick's.

Then-EUB chair François Beaulieu told a committee that the board was only following what the law says.

"Our role is to administer whatever legislation the legislative assembly decides to do," he said in September 2022.

"So that's a policy decision. If the legislative assembly decides that needs to be done, I'll leave that to you."

The government later amended its legislation to deal with the issue.

Higgs suggested in question period he may now consider repealing the gas-price setting legislation altogether. 

"Is regulated pricing the best avenue for all of Atlantic Canada in any case?" he asked.

The premier and Attorney General Ted Flemming continued to blame Ottawa for the situation Wednesday, arguing there would be no need for an adjustor if the Trudeau government had not adopted the clean fuel regulations in the first place. 

"What is going on in fuel prices is driven entirely by the federal government, and everybody knows it," Flemming said in question period, pointing to the separate carbon tax set at 14.3 cents per litre this year.

The adjustor clause was the result of the province "being forced to react to the overwhelming pressure of the federal government," Flemming said.

Green Leader David Coon said Higgs seems to be "all over the map" on the issue.

"He doesn't like things he can't control and if they go against what he thinks, he always responds negatively to it," Coon said.

Holt told reporters Higgs finally seems to be grudgingly recognizing that, which she attributed to the possibility he'll call an early election.

"It's hard to think it's anything but political," she said.

Holt said she would repeal the adjustor "as quickly as we could" if she won an election.

Federal Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault said this summer the regulations won't even impact refineries until July 2024 so there was "no regulatory reason" for the EUB to impose any charge this year. 

The legislation allows the EUB to review how the adjustor clause is working after six months.

Provincial officials told the legislature's public accounts committee last month they didn't know where the money from the adjustor charge was going.