Summer gas prices at lowest level in more than a decade

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2016/08/10/summer-gas-prices-at-lowest-level-in-more-than-a-decade/

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts ticked down 3 cents this week to the lowest price at this point in the summer in more than a decade, AAA reported Tuesday, and the cost of gas is expected to remain low into the fall.

The average price of self-serve regular gas is $2.05 this week, 7 cents lower than the national average and the lowest average price in Massachusetts since mid-April, AAA said. At this time in 2015, the average price of a gallon of gas was $2.52.

“You have to go all the way back to 2004 to find prices this low at this point in the summer,” Mary Maguire, director of public and legislative affairs for AAA Northeast, said in a statement. “With gasoline supplies high and oil prices low, pump prices are likely to remain relatively cheap through the remainder of the summer and into the fall.”

U.S. drivers are on track to shatter the all-time record for total miles driven in a year, according to AAA.

Nationally, the price of gas dropped in 38 states and Washington D.C. over the last week, but increases in several Midwestern states kept the national average price from dropping more than one cent. Still, gas prices in every state are lower than they were a year ago.

“As of (Sunday), some 44 percent of gas stations nationwide were selling gasoline for $2.00 per gallon or less, compared to fewer than one in 1,000 on this same date last year,” AAA wrote on its national gas prices webpage. “Less than one percent of stations nationwide are selling gasoline for more than $3.00 per gallon, compared to 11 percent of stations one year ago.”

— Written by Colin A. Young

Copyright State House News Service