While it’s not good news for light truck fleets, AAA said the continuing increase in gasoline prices is broad-based with motorists in many states and local areas now paying the highest prices ever. With inventories of gasoline on the rise, however, the price of fuel may be about to peak, AAA said.
The national average price of gasoline is $0.22 higher than this time a year ago, when the average price was $1.498 per gallon. Nationwide, the price of self-serve, mid-grade averages $1.824 per gallon, an increase of $0.171 from last month, and $0.217 more expensive than last year.
In California, motorists are paying a record average price of more than $2 per gal. In Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ohio, motorists are paying an average price in excess of $1.80 per gal.
The report prices are highest in the Great Lakes states, up an average $0.24 to $1.86 per gal since mid April. In the West, the average price is $1.74 per gal, up $0.10 in the last month. In the Midwest, prices rose $0.18 to an average $1.74 and increased $0.19 in New England to $1.71. Prices in the Mid-Atlantic states jumped $0.17 cents in one month to average $1.69.
Motorists in the Southwest are paying an average of $1.64, with prices up an average of $0.13. In the Southeast – the region with the lowest average prices – the cost of gas is $0.09 higher in the last month, now $1.59 per gal.
AAA's Fuel Gauge Report is based on data from Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).
