Bermuda consumers are facing greater costs at the gas pump and for electricity after world oil prices shot up.

Local suppliers said this week that gas prices may be the highest ever but in breaking down the net effect said it would only cost an average of $1.80 more to fill a car tank more, after an increase in May.

But that is not the only place that consumers will feel a pinch on their pocketbooks with the cost of electricity also going up, with fuel adjustments reaching a decade high and now accounting for about a quarter of one?s power bill.

Locally price increases were said to be a direct reflection of the spike in crude oil prices globally with the cost shooting up to levels not seen since at least 1991. News reports said traders were pushing up the price for a number of reasons including supply levels, in reaction to an uncertain outcome in the war in Iraq and after terrorists targeted and killed mostly foreign nationals working at Saudi Arabian oil companies earlier this week, according to news reports.

This week the Bermuda operations of petrol companies, Esso and Shell, both told that prices had increased last month based on global spikes in the price of crude oil. They could not say if another increase would follow this month.

David Rose, business manager for the Shell Company of Bermuda, said the Island was ?already feeling the rise in world oil prices? with fuel prices reaching a record high in May when prices went up 6.3 cents a litre.

?Prices are at the highest level,? he said, and explained that rate changes take place on the 15th day of the month after pricing information (from the Caribbean) is received then submitted to Government who set the rate based on a long-used averaging formula.

He added that ?Caribbean pricing obviously reflects what is happening globally. For example, if the pricing is more expensive by say, two cents a litre, the price at the pumps will go up accordingly?.

Mr. Rose said the price of gasoline ? which is a product of crude oil ? in Bermuda now stood at $1.459 a litre while diesel was going for $1.142 a litre.

He said prices were comparable to the UK and Europe but that it was difficult to look at the Island?s gas prices against the US as there was a lower tax rate on fuels there.

But Mr. Rose said the net effect to consumers at the pump was not as high as one might think with the average cost of filling a car going up $1.80 with the May 15 increase.

He could not say whether or not further price increases could be in the offing, but said he hoped there would not be this month as May?s increase already took into account what had been happening globally. He predicted little change if prices stayed around $41 per barrel of crude oil on global markets.

Esso Bermuda general manager Mark Fields also said it was too early to say what would happen with pricing, but pointed out that Bermuda was lucky to only see price fluctuations once a month. He said that, for example, in the US, gas prices can change daily or several times daily.

On the power front, Belco president and CEO Garry Madeiros said the fuel adjustment for June had risen to 4.9 cents per kilowatt.

He said the increase ? which now accounts for between 20 and 25 percent of the customer?s bill, and was ?the highest in the ten years of information I have? ? would be reflected in readings that came after June 1.

?There is absolutely no question. The rise in oil prices impacted us and continue to impact us. Yes, we are impacted big time.?

He said Belco?s landed cost for a barrel of diesel fuel had now reached $63 while heavy fuel was $48.75 a barrel.

He asked local consumers to bear in mind, when they looked at the cost Belco was paying compared to the global rates, that on top of the market value put on fuels, that there was a $15.10 per barrel duty charge as well as freight and wharfage fees to be paid.

In short he said costs were ?expensive,? but that he lived in ?perpetual hope? that the volatile oil pricing seen recently would stabilise.

?It is day to day,? he said, of watching what was happening with the price of oil worldwide.