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Winston-Salem, N.C., Gas Prices Outpace State Average

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By Fran Daniel, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Jan. 4--North Carolina's motor-fuel tax increase went into effect Sunday, but some local gasoline prices have risen far beyond that.

In Winston-Salem, prices at some service stations and convenience stores have increased substantially the past several days, more than double the state's tax increase of 2.8 cents a gallon.

Sarah Davis, a spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas, said that gas prices have been on the increase across the country.

She said that prices started climbing before the tax increase because crude-oil prices are on the rise, now about $61 a barrel, higher than they were at the end of December.

The state average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline yesterday was $2.20 compared with $1.75 for the same period last year. In the Triad, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline yesterday was $2.17 a gallon compared with $1.72 for the same period in 2005.

The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has received a call from one consumer complaining about gas prices going up just before the tax increase, and is following up, said Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.

"We haven't gotten additional calls or complaints since the tax increase began," she said.

Umang Patel, the owner of In 'N Out convenience store on Board Street, said he raised his regular gasoline price to $2.29 a gallon yesterday afternoon from $2.17 a gallon that morning because of increased gasoline costs passed on by his suppliers.

He said he paid $2.25 a gallon for his recent supply of gasoline.

He said that suppliers told him that the increase is because of rising crude-oil prices and that they expect prices to remain high for some time.

"I did not change because of the tax increase," Patel said.

Davis of AAA Carolinas expects gas prices to hover around where they are now for the remainder of the winter.

"I think they'll stay around these prices, maybe five or 10 cents higher, maybe five or 10 cents lower," she said.

Davis isn't expecting prices in North Carolina to go below $2 a gallon or reach a peak of $3.18 a gallon set in September during the Labor Day holiday in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"That was under extenuating circumstances," she said. "Katrina had wreaked havoc with our oil supply and fuel supply and that's really the cause of those prices."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

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Source: Winston-Salem Journal

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