Gas prices are on the rise again.
The latest stats provided by AAA reveal that drivers in San Luis Obispo County are paying an average of $5.73 per gallon, which is higher than the state average.
A couple of factors have influenced the current increase in gas prices across the region.
According to AAA, the price of oil worldwide has increased within the last week after the earthquake in Libya, which caused concerns that there would not be production of oil from the OPEC country.
AAA of Southern California spokeswoman Marie Montgomery says the second factor is production challenges in California, as some local refineries are down, affecting diesel and regular gasoline prices in Central and Southern California.
“When there’s an issue with refineries in the state, we then have to go overseas to get our gasoline or that gasoline has to be physically shipped to California, which of course is very expensive, so that is why when you see supply issues then the cost for gasoline runs up very quickly,” Montgomery explained.
SLO Food Bank CEO Garret Olson says the gas price increase has hurt the non-profit because it costs more to deliver produce to their warehouse.
“When we buy food, we buy it on big trucks because we buy it at a great discount. The food we buy is palletized and then we pay delivery fees,” Olson said. “Typically, we’ll see a tail of increased costs associated with delivery fees as gas prices go up.”
Gas prices have gone up 6 cents across the United States within the last week.
The national average in the U.S. is currently listed at $3.85 a gallon.
Some local drivers say paying for gas has gotten quite difficult.
“It makes things tough. Everything seems to be going up on a regular basis and this is a direct reflection of everything,” said John Pascale, San Luis Obispo resident. "If this goes up, everything seems to fall into line where other things go up as well.”
Montgomery shared some recommendations to help you save on gas.
“The number one recommendation would be to really aggressively shop around for those lowest prices. You don’t want to overpay for gasoline in this atmosphere because it could be close to $6 a gallon,” she said.
Montgomery also suggests downloading the AAA mobile app to find out which gas stations have the lowest prices in your area.
