Gas Prices Update – Big Bump Up Year To Date

Over the last couple of weeks on KIT's Morning News Radio Show we have heard a lot of talk from conservative politicians and legislative observers about the possibility of higher gas prices to come --much higher gas prices.  The number shared by The Washington Policy Center was as much as fifty cents per gallon over the next five years.  Yikes.

So where do we stand today?  For that we check in with Gas Buddy-dot-com to learn - "Yakima gas prices have risen 0.6 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.20/g today, according to a  survey of 91 stations in Yakima. Gas prices in Yakima are 1.4 cents per gallon lower than a month ago."

That seems manageable in the short term but a wider look shows Yakima's gasoline prices now stand 89.6 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

According to GasBuddy price reports, "the cheapest station in Yakima is priced at $2.67/g today while the most expensive is $3.59/g, a difference of 92.0 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state today is $2.64/g while the highest is $3.81/g, a difference of $1.17/g."  Washington State has one of the highest total gas taxes in the nation.

Speaking of the national average price of gasoline, this week it remains unchanged from last week, averaging $2.85/g today. The national average is down 2.2 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands $1.07/g higher than a year ago.

The West side's big cities pay more than Yakima.
Tacoma- $3.41/g, down 0.8 cents per gallon from last week's $3.42/g.
Seattle- $3.51/g, up 0.4 cents per gallon from last week's $3.51/g.

"Gas prices have remained largely stable in the last week across much of the country with the exception of the West Coast, where prices in some areas continue to advance, mainly in California as summer gasoline and healthy demand have boosted prices, but for everyone else, we're far removed from the fast pace of increases we saw earlier this year," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.