Gas Prices Soar Above $3 a Gallon, Could Go Higher
By Chuck Thompson, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.
Sep. 30–Here we go again.
Gasoline prices were topping $3 a gallon for regular unleaded at some gas stations around Macon as all raised their prices by 10 to 30 cents a gallon Thursday.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Citgo station at Bass Road and Interstate 75 was charging $3.29 a gallon.
The prices likely will go higher in the coming week after Georgia’s month-long moratorium on fuel taxes expires at midnight.
A ride around Macon during lunchtime Thursday found stations charging between $2.77 and $2.99 for a gallon of regular unleaded. But by 4:30 p.m., at least three stations were charging $3.19 a gallon.
The BP and Exxon stations at the corner of Gray Highway and Shurling Drive had raised their prices for unleaded to $3.19, as well as the Shell nearby on Shurling Drive. The Shell station on Gray Highway was charging $3.13.
“I just changed it from $2.89,” said Sharvis Cantey, manager of the Gray Highway Shell station. “My district manager called and said to raise it after the two stations up on the corner went up.” Attendants at the BP and Exxon stations charging $3.19 said their managers were not at the store and would not comment.
The lowest price spotted Thursday was $2.77 at Marathon stations at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Walnut Street and on Riverside Drive. The highest spotted at lunchtime were $2.99 at the Kroger on Zebulon and several Chevron stations on Riverside Drive and Eisenhower Parkway.
The Exxon at the corner of Spring Street and Riverside Drive was charging $2.79 at 12:30 p.m. but had raised its price for regular unleaded to $2.99 by 4:30 p.m. Several other stations on Riverside, which saw price increases earlier in the day, raised prices again in the late afternoon Thursday by as much as 20 cents a gallon.
Cars were lined up two and three deep at pumps at the Raceway ($2.79 a gallon) and Sam’s Club ($2.81) stations off Eisenhower Parkway early Thursday afternoon. But it appeared to be business as usual at most other stations, and none of the more than two dozen checked were out of gas.
“I hate to see it going up again,” said Ralph Williams of Macon, who was filling up at the Sam’s Club. “The most I paid the last time it jumped was $3.18 a gallon. I hope it doesn’t go higher than that. I’m retired, so I’ve tried to cut back on my driving some. But folks who work have to go. Long as we don’t run out of gas, I guess we’ll get by.”
Gas prices spiked a month ago when Hurricane Katrina damaged refineries and temporarily shut down pipelines in the Gulf Coast region. Hurricane Rita shut down more refineries and pipelines when it hit Texas and Louisiana last week, again crimping the nation’s fuel supplies.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue suspended fuel taxes in Georgia after Katrina, saving motorists about 15 cents a gallon through most of September. But the month-long moratorium ends tonight, so fuel bought by retailers beginning Saturday will have the taxes added back to it, and they in turn will begin passing that increase on to customers.
But state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said stations should not add the 15 cents for the taxes until after they have sold the gas they bought before midnight today.
They should increase their price only after they buy new gas with the taxes added back. For most stations, that should be sometime next week, he said.
“We will be watching,” he said.
Perdue enacted statutes against price gouging on Sept. 2 after a run on gas stations caused prices to jump to as high as $5 a gallon in some places.
The state has been checking since then to be sure gas stations do not overcharge customers, and that will continue even after the tax break ends. Thursday, Perdue extended the anti-gouging measures until at least Oct. 14.
Perdue has said he won’t extend the gas tax break because the state can’t afford it. He said Georgia lost $75 million in tax revenue during the moratorium.
According to AAA, the national average price of regular unleaded as of Thursday was $2.81 per gallon. It was $2.78 in Georgia, and in Macon it was $2.72, an increase of 3 cents from the day before.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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