Worried about gas prices? Here are tips on how to improve your gas mileage while on the road. This article tagged under: California Gas prices Gasoline. Back to Article. Close Menu. Search for:. Some industry observers insist the higher cost of gasoline in California is due to higher taxes and regulations on gas and carbon emissions statewide.
State agencies and consumer advocates insist those factors are only partly to blame and that the largest manufacturers charge more in California simply because they can, while big oil companies have held back on ramping up supply, according to the New York Times, after seeing huge cuts to their profits and workforce last year because of the pandemic.
A massive container ship blocking the critical Suez Canal could also increase the price of a variety of goods, including oil. What is not disputed is that gas prices have soared since the beginning of the year, although they have leveled off somewhat recently.
National average prices tracked by the AAA auto club are higher than they have been since May Crude oil prices have increased since the beginning of the year.
More people driving as coronavirus restrictions have eased has also increased demand, driving up prices, Buckley said. He said the spike in prices first started in after a fire at a Southern California refinery crimped supply, but never went away.
Californians do pay some of the highest gas taxes in the nation. The American Petroleum Institute lobbying group in a January report found Californians paid more than 80 cents per gallon in taxes, the most of any state, driven mostly by a state excise tax.
CEC data estimated those taxes to be a few pennies less per gallon. A jump in crude oil costs, which account for slightly more than half of the pump price, has contributed to soaring gasoline prices. For much of — a year marred by the COVID pandemic, stay-at-home orders and restricted travel — crude prices tanked. Californians have always shelled out more for gas than in other parts of the U.
Since , cleaner-burning gasoline has cost more — but the trade-off has been cleaner skies, Borenstein said. Why gas prices in California are so much higher than elsewhere in U. Californians are used to gyrating gas prices, but the latest swing from the lowest in years to nearly a dollar above the national average is leaving drivers in a tizzy. The high prices have been so disconcerting that Gov.
Experts say there should be some relief in the coming weeks when service stations in California switch over to their winter blends, which are cheaper to produce. By November, prices could drop about 12 cents, but Shupe said higher butane and crude oil costs will probably make the decrease less significant than in previous years.
Griping about gas prices is understandable — and universal. He previously worked for Courthouse News Service, where he wrote both breaking news and enterprise stories ranging from criminal justice to homelessness and politics. Before that, Solis was at the Redding Record Searchlight as a multimedia journalist, where he anchored coverage of the destructive fires in Northern California. Earlier in his career, he worked for Eastsider L.
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