Holiday Weekend Sees Cheapest Gas Since March

The price of gasoline is down another five cents a gallon in the last seven days, hitting its lowest level since March. But the two month decline may be stalling.

The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.550 a gallon, down from $3.601 last Friday, according to AAA's daily Fuel Gauge Survey. The price is down 19 cents in the last month, but is 15 cents higher than at this time a year ago.

The price of diesel fuel is $3.898 a gallon, down from $3.951 in the last week.

Despite the drop, the rate of decline slowed in the past week. According to the AAA survey, today's national average price is up a penny from the day before. Still, as motorists hit the road for the long Independence Day Weekend, they will find fuel prices markedly cheaper than in early May, when prices peaked near $4 a gallon.

“The current price at the pump is 81 cents more expensive than the price a year ago toda,” said Avery Ash, AAA's manager of federal relations. “For 52 days from April 23-June 13 of this year the daily national average price was more than a dollar more expensive than the same day in 2010 — with this difference peaking at $1.09 on May 13. For comparison, the last time we experienced a year-over-year increase of 'only' 81 cents was on March 31.”

Gasoline prices have fallen after oil prices fell from lofty levels above $100 a barrel. However, most energy analysts expect oil prices to creep higher in the coming weeks.

The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:

• Alaska ($4.107)
• Hawaii ($4.049)
• Connecticut ($3.917)
• Washington, DC ($3.862)
• New York ($3.850)
• Washington ($3.801)
• California ($3.796)
• Oregon ($3.771)
• Illinois ($3.752)
• Vermont ($3.701)

The states with the least expensive gasoline today are: 

• South Carolina ($3.287)
• Missouri ($3.358)
• Tennessee ($3.365)
• Mississippi ($3.374)
• Alabama ($3.387)
• Arkansas ($3.389)
• Oklahoma ($3.408)
• Kansas ($3.419)
• Virginia ($3.421)
• Louisiana ($3.422)