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No Fall Gas Price Dip This Year

Gas prices 51 cents higher than last year at this time

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 12, 2007

• Labor Day Gas Prices Up a Penny • Gas Prices Fall for 37 Days • Gas Prices Slide 8 Percent from Record • Gas Prices Creep Down • Oil Price Trend May Be Good News For Consumers • Gasoline Drops Below $3.90 a Gallon • Gas Prices Pull Back Slowly • Oil Prices Fall As Storm Misses Rigs • Latest Gas Price Round-Up • 'Run Your Car On Water' Scheme Could Leave Consumers All Wet • Unregulated Energy Trading Blamed for Much of Gas Price Gusher • Airlines Join Effort To Limit Oil Speculators • Questions Raised about MyGallons.com • 'Hypermiling' Is Dangerous, Says AAA • Struggling Drivers Blame Washington for High Gas Prices • What’s Really Fueling Those Sky-High Oil Prices • Credit Card Fees at the Pump are a 'Hidden Tax' on Consumers • Survey: 3 Out of 4 Angry About High Gas Prices • $2 A Gallon Gas Possible, Analysts Tell Congress • Speculators Buy More Oil Contracts Than Oil Companies • Saudis to Pump More Oil • Limiting Oil Speculators Gains Ground • Congress To Probe Oil Price Spike • Oil Market 'Saturated,' Iran Claims • Feds See No Relief from High Gas Prices • High Gas Prices Could Mean Lower Insurance Rates • High Gas Prices Good For Kia, Honda • Gas Prices Rip Past $4 and Keep Climbing • Administration, OPEC See Different Causes Of Oil Surge • Feds Probing Possible Oil Market Manipulation • Beware of Fuel Sippers Sipping High-Test • Retailers Respond to High Gas Prices with Discounts, Promotions • Rushing Into a Smaller Car Too Soon May Not Save Money • Hybrid Sales and Prices Climb in Lockstep with Gas Prices • Truckers Bemoan Burden of High Diesel Costs • Gas Prices Biting into Worker Productivity • Consumers Warned About Gas-Saving Schemes • Is Tony Soprano Controlling Gas Prices? • Oil & Gas: The New Bubble • Critics: New Federal Gas Mileage Standard Falls Short • Consumers Feeling Pain of Skyrocketing Gas Prices • New Gas Price Record Forecasts Expensive Summer Driving Season --- • More ...

The national average gasoline price dropped a penny last week to $2.76 but the seasonal decline in gas prices that usually occurs has failed to show up. Gas Prices remain 51 cents higher than one year ago.

One year ago regular self-serve gasoline sold for an average of $2.25 a gallon. One month ago regular gasoline sold for $2.82 a gallon.

California continues to experience rising gasoline price but they are up only a couple of cents this week to an average of $3.04 a gallon.

Across the U.S. mid-grade gasoline is selling for an average of $2.93 a gallon and premium unleaded is selling at $3.04 a gallon. Both grades are down a penny for the week, according to AAA, of Heathrow, Florida.

E85 ethanol prices are unchanged at $2.26 a gallon or $2.95 when adjusted to equal the power and mileage produced by a gallon of gasoline.

Motorists in the Virgin Islands are paying the highest price for gasoline. Stations in St. Thomas are charging $3.69 for a gallon of regular.

Gasoline stations in Laurence Harbor, New Jersey are offering the cheapest regular in the U.S. at $2.37 a gallon.

Here is a look at some gasoline prices from around the country in the weekly Consumer Affairs.Com gas price round up.

California: Pump prices continue a relentless rise throughout the state adding a couple of pennies in the past week, putting average prices now 50 cents or more higher than a year ago.

"We are seeing our sixth straight week of price increases, but for the most part prices have been climbing gradually rather than spiking sharply,” says Carol Thorp, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

"In late summer and early fall for three of the past four years, we saw very rapid price increases ranging from 15 to 25 percent in a one-month period. Over this past month, in comparison, local gas prices have risen by about 6 percent," she says.

Throughout California, gasoline prices are now about 50 cents high than they were at this time last year.

The highest prices in the state at $3.99 a gallon are found in the Eastern Sierra town of Bridgeport where at least four gas stations are posting that price. The town has a history of often posting the highest prices in the country.

The lowest price in California is $2.83 at a Valero station in Fairfield but even that price is four cents higher than last week’s California low pump price.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.99, which is 1.9 cents higher than last week.

In San Diego, the price is $3.03, which is 2.7 cents above last week's price.

For the fifth week in a row, San Luis Obispo has California’s highest average price for gasoline, the AAA said at $3.17 which is 2.8 cents higher than last week.

Texas: Retail gasoline prices fell across the state this week.

The average price of regular self-serve gasoline fell by 4 cents to $2.65 per gallon across Texas according to the weekly AAA Texas gas price survey.

"All cities surveyed this week fell two cents or more per gallon," said AAA Texas spokeswoman Rose Rougeau. "The downturn in pump prices has been aided by a relatively mild hurricane season and lower demand."

El Paso had the highest gas prices of the survey's 11 Texas cities with regular self-serve averaging $2.79 per gallon, down 4 cents from last week. Corpus Christi had the cheapest gas at $2.54 per gallon, down 6 cents from last week.

South Dakota: Motorists in much of the state are still waiting for the post-Labor Day drop in gasoline prices they've come to expect. The average price of gasoline in South Dakota is $2.82 a gallon, according to AAA.

One year ago, the average was $2.27.

"We should be down beneath $2.30," said Mark Madeja of AAA. "We should be enjoying some of those typical prices at this time and we're not."

The high price is a result of supply and demand, he said.

Compared to other states, South Dakota usually stays in the middle when it comes to gas prices, thanks to taxes and transportation habits, Madeja said.

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