Mike Ogozaly makes a round-trip drive from Carbondale to Wilkes-Barre every day.
So as gas prices dipped below $3 a gallon at a few stations in Northeast Pennsylvania, he noticed.
“This thing sucks the gas down quickly,” he said while filling his Dodge Durango at the Citgo Drive N Buy on Main Street in Carbondale. “It gets expensive.”
The price Monday night was $2.99 a gallon for customers paying in cash when Mr. Ogozaly put $30 on the pump. That bought him just over 10 gallons of gas, saving him about $10 compared to what he paid for 10 gallons the last time he filled up.
The last time the price was this low in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area was Dec. 3, 2010, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Melissa Cox remembered the prices being lower in Carbondale about six years ago when a gallon of gas was $2.50.
“I was 21 and had my first car,” she said as she filled her minivan at the Drive N Buy. “I couldn’t more than two gallons in when I filled up.”
Gas prices typically decline in the autumn due to decreased driving and the switch to winter-blend gasoline, but prices have fallen faster than many expected as a result of sharply lower crude oil prices.
Crude oil is the main cost associated with gasoline and represents about two-thirds of the price. Over the last four months, crude oil prices have fallen nearly 23 percent in value, according to AAA.
Savan Patel, owner of the Drive N Buy, said he’s been trying to lower gas prices for a couple months.
“People say we have the best coffee so we wanted to have the best prices too,” he said. “Then everybody else lowers their prices.”
The lower price was good news to motorists at stations where gas was below $3 a gallon.
Scranton resident Steve Miller pumped gas in his Dodge Ram pickup truck Monday at PSC on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, where gas was also $2.99 a gallon for customers paying cash.
“Driving this behemoth, it’s wonderful,” he said.
“When I would normally put $20 a gas in months ago, the needle would barely move,” Mr. Miller said. “Now with the gas prices being down below $3 a gallon, I actually see a difference in the gauge itself. It is nice to finally see that you are actually getting something for $20.”
Nationally, the average price of gasoline dropped below $3 a gallon over the weekend for the first time since December 2010, ending its longest streak ever above that price. The average price of gasoline in the area on Monday was $3.11 a gallon, down three cents over the weekend and seven cents in the last week, according to AAA.
AAA estimates that lower gas prices are helping consumers save at least $250 million per day on gasoline compared to early summer, when the national average reached $3.68 per gallon.
“Consumers are experiencing ‘sticker delight’ as gas prices unexpectedly drop below $3 in much of the country,” said Jim Lardear, director of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Lower gas prices are a boon to the economy just in time for holiday travel and shopping.”
The national average gas price was above $3 for 1,409 consecutive days. During that time, U.S. gas prices averaged $3.52 per gallon and climbed as high as $3.98 per gallon on May 5, 2011.
Gas prices have dropped to an average of $2.82 a gallon in New Jersey and $2.86 in Delaware.
Prices are higher in Pennsylvania as a result of Gov. Tom Corbett and the state Legislature increasing gasoline taxes as part of a plan to generate $2.3 billion over the next five years for improvements to Pennsylvania’s highways, bridges and mass-transit systems.
Nationally, AAA reported more than 60 percent of all stations are selling gas for less than $3 per gallon.
“The steep decline in gas prices has helped to make driving less expensive for the vast majority of Americans who use their car every day,” Mr. Lardear said. “Many Americans are spending $10 to $20 less to fill up the cars on every trip to the gas station compared to what they paid during the summer driving season.”
AAA anticipates gasoline prices will continue to drop in the weeks ahead, but it is possible that prices in many areas will begin to stabilize. By spring, AAA anticipates higher gas prices may return due to refinery maintenance, increased demand and a return to summer-blend gasoline.
Contact the writers: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com
lranker@timesshamrock.com, @lrankerNEWS on Twitter
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