Daniel Tillet shrugged as he pumped gasoline into his car last week.
“What are you going to do? I’m pretty lucky. I only fill up about once a week. I’d hate to be someone who has to drive a lot,” the Dalton resident said.
Nationwide, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline stood at $3.781 on Friday, according to AAA, up 46.5 cents from a month earlier. AAA reports that is the largest monthly increase since June 2009.
The price increase has been even steeper in Georgia. AAA reports the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in the Peach State stood at $3.773 on Friday, up 47.6 cents from a month earlier.
“I don’t understand why these prices keep going up. I don’t know how we are going to afford it if they keep going up,” said Dalton resident Elaine Helms.
So why have prices been soaring recently?
“It’s sort of a perfect storm. You’ve got about a million barrels a day of production that have gone off line on the East Coast and St. Croix,” said Nancy White, director of public relations for AAA. “About 25 percent of refineries are doing maintenance right now. Supply inventories still haven’t recovered from superstorm Sandy. You combine that with an earlier than usual switchover from winter to summer blends and you’ve got demand outstripping supply.”
Larry Johnson, associate professor of economics at Dalton State College, says that in addition to temporary disruptions at refineries, longer term trends are also pressing prices upward.
“We’ve had a slight decline in the value of the dollar. Oil is priced in dollars, so as the dollar goes down the price of oil goes up,” he said. “The economic recovery here in the U.S. and in Europe is increasing demand, and of course demand from China is constantly increasing.”
The rising price of motor fuel isn’t just putting a strain on individuals and consumers.
“I haven’t heard anything specifically about this (from local business leaders). But any time the cost of their inputs goes up it has an effect on their bottom line,” said Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce President Brian Anderson.
Local governments are keeping a wary eye on fuel prices.
“The city budgeted $3.50 and $3.75 per gallon for unleaded and diesel fuel for 2013,” said Dalton Finance Director Cindy Jackson. “The last order placed for fuel was approximately three weeks ago and the city paid $3.30 and $3.55, which is below the budgeted amounts. Fuel is very volatile and the city will continue to monitor the cost of fuel and adjust budgets as needed.”
Whitfield County Administrator Mark Gibson says rising prices are a concern but it’s still too early in the year to say exactly what impact they will have on the county budget.
“At this time we do not have enough data to see the entire trending picture, but one would only assume the impact for the departments would be an increase in fuel expense should fuel prices remain high,” he said. “Every year we build in a contingency line item into the overall budget for times like these. We plan for these occurrences. Being that it is only February it is a bit early to determine if we will need to dip into fund balance for fuel.”
The good news is that some experts think prices should begin to plateau and probably drop as refineries complete their maintenance and the switch to summer blends.
“We are hopeful that we are going to see things level off before we hit that $4 a gallon mark,” said White. “Last year, we hit our high, just shy of $4 a gallon, on April 5 and 6. Things are coming earlier this year than in 2012, and they came earlier in 2012 than 2011, so that’s why these price spikes are coming earlier as well.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Tonya Holland, of Dalton, pumps gasoline at the Race Trac at the intersection of Shugart Road and the north bypass on Sunday. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
Discussion
February 25, 2013
Feeling the squeeze
Fuel price increase largest in almost four years
- Local News
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‘It was a brutal time’
Dr. William Blackman, left, explains how amputations were done during the Civil War with a bone saw as Brett Huske looks on at the Hamilton House Saturday. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)
Dr. William Blackman opened a box of tools consisting of medical instruments, including a saw, and proceeded to tell visitors how they were used more than a century ago to amputate limbs for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.
Continued ... - Sweet Pea Tea
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