San Benito County residents may have noticed gas prices dropped
a few cents during the past month, but experts can’t promise the
decline will continue throughout the summer.
San Benito County residents may have noticed gas prices dropped a few cents during the past month, but experts can’t promise the decline will continue throughout the summer.
A new report by the American Automobile Association (AAA) shows the cost of gas in California has dropped nine cents to an average of $2.23 per gallon. A poll of seven gas stations in Hollister Tuesday put the city’s average at $2.18, but AAA Representative Sean Comey said there is no way to predict how the prices will fluctuate during the next few months.
“They usually go down in August because it’s the end of summer and more people are going back to work and school and not driving as much,” he said. “It’s an encouraging trend, but we have a long way to go before most consumers would be able to cross high gas prices off their lists.”
If Hollister residents shop around town, they can find gas for $2.17 a gallon. But Chris Cato of Hollister, who was filling up his truck at Alliance Gas Station on Tres Pinos Road Tuesday, said it’s still too expensive.
“I drive my truck back and forth to work everyday in Gilroy, but I never completely fill it up because it cost so much,” he said.
Tony Adamson, also from Hollister, was also filling up Tuesday and said he drives even further. As a commuter, Adamson drives 100 miles a day, back and forth to San Jose.
“When gas goes up, you definitely feel it in your pocketbook,” he said.
Adamson is considering buying a car that gets better gas mileage the next time he buys an automobile.
If gas prices don’t drop by the end of summer, Comey said there may be more trouble ahead.
“If we don’t see them drop, there may be a new price dynamic ahead of us,” he said. “The trend of it going down every August may no longer exist.”
The national average is $1.90, and many Californian’s wonder why the gas in the Golden State is so much more. The cost of filtering fuel so it burns cleaner, the state’s need to import fuel, sometimes from as far away as from Finland, and the rise in crude oil prices to $40 a barrel, combines to create high prices, Comey said.
To help reduce the demand for imported fuel, which is one cause of high prices, AAA has teamed up with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to help launch the state’s new conservation program “Flex Your Power at the Pump.”
“We have proven that cost-effective efficiency programs can help reduce overall energy use, protect our environment and save consumers in the long run,” the governor said in a press statement Tuesday.
For more information about the new program, log onto: www.FYPower.org.
California Gas Prices
Hollister $2.18
Monterey $2.22
Salinas $2.20
San Jose $2.19
San Francisco $2.33
State Average $2.23
National Average $1.90
Gas Prices in Hollister
Hollister Chevron
$2.24
B&C One Stop Gas
$2.17
San Benito Tire
$2.17
Nash Road Texaco
$2.17
Alliance Gas
$2.17
Jesse’s Gas Station
$2.17
Home Town Gas
$2.17
