Gas prices in California are creeping closer to that dreaded $6 a gallon mark once again, and it feels like déjà vu from last year. In good old Los Angeles County, the price you pay for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline shot up by 4.8 cents today, landing at a whopping $5.915. That’s after a hefty increase of 13.6 cents just yesterday.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the pump, you’ll notice that over the last 57 days, the price has gone up 52 times! That’s a whopping 94.3 cents increase, according to data from the folks at AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Compared to last week, we’re up a painful 39.2 cents. Last month? Try 62.5 cents more. And if we go back a year, it’s still a grim 48.6 cents higher. However, take a little stroll down memory lane to October 5, 2022, when we hit that all-time high of $6.494. We’ve managed to shave off 57.9 cents from that peak.
Now, let’s head over to sunny Orange County, where the average price has climbed to $5.912 today after an increase of 4.2 cents. Over the past 56 days, it’s gone up 50 times! In just one week, we’re looking at a painful 41.5 cents more.
JRV_503 shared a post on Twitter:
at the gas pump again I have to date this because everybody has stopped talking about it. Gas prices are extremely high in California. Look at this sign taken two days ago, 8/14/23. Cheapest gas is $6.76 a gallon. Diesel is $6.96 per gallon. #BidenomicsFAILURE #GasPrices… pic.twitter.com/hKW4ffHePf
— 🇺🇸JV🇺🇸 (@JRV_503) August 16, 2023
Last month, it was a jaw-dropping 67.3 cents extra, and compared to this time last year, it’s still a hefty 52.1 cents higher. But remember that day in history, October 5, when it reached a record-breaking $6.459? Well, since then, we’ve managed to shave off 54.7 cents.
Well, hold on a minute! Riverside County isn’t catching a break either. Nope, they’re in the same situation. Prices there went up by 5.4 cents, hitting $5.746, and they’ve been going up consistently for 52 out of the last 58 days. In just a week, it’s 35.9 cents more expensive.
A month ago, it was a painful 57.2 cents extra, and compared to a year ago, it’s still a hard-to-swallow 43.7 cents higher. But here’s the silver lining: on that fateful day, October 5, 2022, when it reached a record-breaking $6.373, we managed to knock off 62.7 cents.
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Now, let’s take a breather from California and look at the national scene. The average price across the country has crept up by half a cent, landing at $3.881. That’s the 11th consecutive increase! It’s a good eight-tenths of a penny more than a month ago, almost 5 cents more than a week ago, and a hefty 20.3 cents more than a year ago.
But, let’s go back to June 14, 2022, when it reached that impressive $5.016 mark. We’ve actually lowered it by a nice $1.135 since then.
According to Andrew Gross, a national public relations manager for AAA, “Oil costs are putting upward pressure on pump prices, but the rise is tempered by much lower demand.”
“The slide in people fueling up is typical, with schools back in session, the days getting shorter, and the weather less pleasant. But the usual decline in pump prices is being stymied for now by these high oil costs.”
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