Pain at pump returns
GAS: Motorists cut back elsewhere
| Monday, Jun 15 2009 07:27 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jun 16 2009 02:51 PM
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The average retail price for regular unleaded gas in Bakersfield hit $3 a gallon on Saturday, and by Monday had risen to $3.03.
That's up from $2.53 a month ago, but well below last summer's peak of $4.59 on June 24, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
If we aren't where we were last summer, there's still something depressing about passing the $3 a gallon mark, Billy Russell, 39, said as he filled up a 1974 Chevy pickup for $3.03 a gallon at a downtown Chevron.
"I definitely noticed," he said. "I've got an older truck, so it's a gas guzzler as it is."
The rapid rise in recent weeks cannot be explained by the usual seasonal spike in summer months when people travel more, said Matt Skryja, spokesman for AAA Northern California.
"The economy being what it is, there's not been a large influx of travel demand," Skryja said. "It's up, but not by much."
The culprit, most agree, is crude oil prices, which have doubled since the end of last year.
Experts attribute that to speculators betting that a recovering economy will boost commodity prices.
"Unemployment lags other segments of the economy so the job situation still looks bad, but there are other indicators that things might be starting to get better," said Niel Gamson, an economist with the federal Energy Information Administration. "Investors are projecting ahead, and that's pushing up prices."
Nationwide, Monday's average retail price for regular gas was $2.67 a gallon, the administration reported. Statewide, it was $2.98.
Last summer's soaring gas prices, coupled with a plummeting housing market, helped push the nation into recession. There was some concern this week that another summer of high gas prices could stifle the nation's fragile recovery.
"Higher energy prices can take a bite out of some sectors of the economy, as we saw last year," Gamson said. "Airlines were hit hard, for instance, because people were flying less.
"But even though gas prices are going up, they still aren't as high as they were last year, so that might offset the impact a little."
Refueling his car at an east side HP Go Go Mini Mart, Danny Lopez, 29, who is out of work, said he ran out of gas twice in one week because he didn't have enough money to fill up.
Escalating fuel costs have forced him to shop around for the best price rather than stop at any filling station that's convenient.
"I'm a bargain hunter, for sure," Lopez said.
At an adjacent pump, Angela Jackson, 27, said she tries not to drive much outside of her five-day-a-week commute from Bakersfield to Wasco.
"On my days off, I mainly stay home or go where I really just have to, to preserve my gas," she said.
At a northwest side Costco, mother of five Mary Louden, 43, paid $81 to fill up a 12-passenger van that her family only uses for road trips.
She had just returned from a day trip to a Cambria beach.
"Normally we would have stayed overnight somewhere, but we're like everybody else, doing staycations," Louden said. "We packed food so we wouldn't have to buy any, and went to the closest beach we could get to.
"I think that's what happens. People still travel, but they don't go as far or spend as much."
Nearby, Jim Brady, 63, of Ivanhoe, was gassing up a Toyota Sequoia after visiting his son and granddaughter in Bakersfield.
"We don't let gas prices stop us, but we try to plan a little more, double up on errands while we're out so we don't have to make as many trips, that sort of thing," Brady said.
He's become numb to fuel fluctuations, he added.
"Gas will continue to go up until we find an alternative fuel because there's only so much oil," Brady said.
"We'll all be paying $10 a gallon some day."
