California gas prices skyrocket as national average drops
By Nic Garcia
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FRESNO, California (KFSN) — You may have noticed gas guzzling up more of your money, despite prices being on the decline nationally.
In Fresno, AAA reports the current average for a gallon of regular gas is $4.88.
One week ago, the cost was around $4.72, 16 cents lower.
A month ago, prices were at $4.56 per gallon. That’s more than 30 cents less than it is now.
Action News spoke to drivers pumping gas Monday afternoon.
“To get my boyfriend to work sometimes, we have to go without food so we can get gas,” said Melanie Campos.
Pain at the pump is an understatement for Campos.
“Even right now, we were like, ‘Okay, let’s just spend our last $2 to get a little bit of gas.’ So that way my boyfriend can get to work later,” said Campos.
Gas experts point to refinery maintenance, which is happening right now nationwide. But California is facing additional challenges.
“With the lack of refineries that produce California’s stringent and exclusive blend of gasoline, inventories of California’s gasoline have been falling because of that,” said Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy.
California is the only state with its own blend of gas, which is why our prices don’t drop when other states do.
There’s always relief in the winter blend, but that’s still about a month away for California.
“Winter gas is always a little bit cheaper and while the entire nation, minus California, is making the switch to winter gasoline starting as early as today, in California it goes for a longer period of time,” said De Haan.
These high prices are enough to make some people move away from gas vehicles altogether.
“It’s ridiculous. It is unbelievable,” said Shaver Lake resident Jerry Sandstrom.
Sandstrom has been driving an electric car for years and even benefited from a rare promotion from Tesla in which he has free charging for life.
“It’s like buying a car and getting free gasoline for the life of the car. It’s unbelievable,” said Sandstrom.
For those left at the pump, they’re pleading for lower prices.
“We need gas prices to go back down. Even if it’s somewhere in the $3.99 range. $4.00 and up is way too ridiculous,” said Campos.
De Haan says California should start to see a drop in prices around mid-October when the state switches over to winter blend, something other states are doing as early as this week.
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