Irving Oil and the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission are disagreeing over what happened with an application to increase the price of fuel on P.E.I.

'They withdrew the application and there was no additional margin increase.'— Allison MacEwen, IRAC

At hearings in New Brunswick late last month, Irving testified IRAC had approved a request it made last summer to increase the wholesale margin on P.E.I. by 1.3 cents a litre on gas, diesel and heating oil.

An increase that size would cost Island consumers $5 million a year.

Transcripts of hearings by the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board into the Irving application there show this statement from Matthew Holland, the petroleum manager of Irving Oil Marketing.

"We did ask for the similar request in P.E.I.," Holland said.

"There is not a formal process there. There is also not a formal declaration of what they grant ... As far as we are concerned ... they recognize the merits of the application and are using those merits and those increased costs in their price setting."

IRAC's Allison MacEwen told CBC News Irving's statement "doesn't bear any relationship to the reality of what happened." MacEwen said the process was dropped.

"Not only did they provide information but we provided a follow-up of a substantial number of questions to determine the legitimacy of some of the issues they had raised.

"But when it all was said and done they withdrew the application and there was no additional margin increase granted as a result of their request, that's for sure."

Irving made a similar application in Nova Scotia, and Irving and the province settled at half the amount Irving had originally requested. The wholesale margin there increased from 6.0 to 6.65 cents per litre.

The NBEUB hasn't yet ruled on Irving's application in New Brunswick.

P.E.I. is the only province in Atlantic Canada that does not disclose the value of the wholesale margin it includes in fuel price calculations.

Calls by CBC News to Irving were not returned.