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Gas Prices Still Going Down

Posted on: Friday, 21 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Jim Martin, Erie Times-News, Pa.

Oct. 21--David Poor plans to fill his car's tank with gas, and thinks you should do the same.

It's not that Poor, regional vice president for AAA, is convinced gas prices are going back up -- but he's not betting against it either.

Like motorists throughout the region, Poor woke up to some good news Thursday.

Gas prices that topped $3 just a few weeks ago had fallen more than a dime overnight.

A Country Fair on Peach Street was selling gasoline Thursday for $2.40, down from $2.54 a day earlier. At Delta Sonic Car Wash on Peach Street, prices fell 13 cents to settle at $2.39.

The story was much the same in Meadville, where prices at Sheetz dropped a dime to $2.50.

"Anytime it goes down it's good news," Poor said. "We knew it would be coming down, but we didn't know it would be coming down this quickly."

It was one of those rare occasions, he said, when gas prices seemed to fall as quickly as they went up.

With the summer driving season over, weaker demand might be part of the reason.

According to a Reuters report, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said Monday that consumers have reduced gasoline and other energy consumption in response to higher prices and the government's campaign to encourage less energy use.

Monica Jones, public-relations manager for the 319-store Sheetz convenience-store chain, offers a simpler explanation.

"(Prices) are doing wonderful things," she said. "It's going down because the wholesale cost is going down."

And while retailers are often accused of being quick to raise prices and slow to drop them, Jones said the opposite has actually been true of her chain.

"We really like to pass that on to consumers as quickly as we can," she said. "We try to make the increases gradually as we go higher."

Where will prices settle?

That depends, among other things, on the path of Wilma, the next hurricane that could threaten the United States and its oil-production facilities.

"If there is no weather or political uprising, I think we are going to settle around $2," Poor said.

Jones won't commit to a prediction, but said she has heard there may be more room for another drop in prices.

With all the uncertainty of the weather and world politics to consider, Poor said he wouldn't wait for prices to get better.

"Take advantage of it while it's down," he said. "That's all I can say."

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Source: Erie Times-News

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