Gas Prices Dip, But Are You Being Gouged?

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire dropped Sunday for the 23rd consecutive day, decreasing 2 cents to $3.774.

The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties has dropped 42.4 cents over the past 23 days, including 3.8 cents on Saturday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The decreases follow a nine-day streak of increases totaling 72.1 cents that pushed the average price to its highest amount since May 12, 2014.

The average price is 20.9 cents less than one week ago and 10.6 cents lower than one year ago but 29.4 cents more than one month ago.

The decreases are expected to continue because of the large gap between wholesale and pump prices, according to Jeffrey Spring, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s communications manager.

As of Friday, the wholesale price for regular unleaded gasoline price is $1.87 per gallon for the Los Angeles and Southern California area, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The whole sale price does not include federal and state taxes and regulatory fees, which could add up to 80 cents per gallon.

This week, the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog accused the oil refineries of gouging California drivers while calling for new legislation to reign them in.

“We know the California experience in gasoline prices is unprecedented,” Jamie Court, president of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog told the Los Angeles Times. “There has never been this type of gouging.”

Court went on to cite refineries’ high profits in the state at a time of falling oil prices as proof of gouging.

Consumer Watchdog is asking for laws that would require oil companies to disclose profits on gas refined locally, to be transparent about refinery maintenance and outages, and to keep a reserve to avoid price spikes. The group also wants to see higher penalties for gouging.

For the full Los Angeles Times article, click here.