With Golden State gas prices averaging more than $5 per gallon, drivers may be wondering what causes price variances at the pump from state to state. Why is gas so expensive in California?
The queries come as the national average gas price rose to $4.08 per gallon on Thursday, April 2, according to the AAA Auto Club. That figure is up from a national average price of $3.98 one week ago, on March 26, and an average of $3.00 on March 5.
The state with the highest gas prices on April 2 is California, where drivers paid an average of $5.89 per gallon, which was up from $4.65 one month ago on March 5. The state with the lowest gas prices on April 2 was Oklahoma, where drivers paid an average of $3.27 per gallon, which was still up from an average price of gas in Oklahoma of $2.47 per gallon one month ago on March 5.
Californians are feeling the pain of pump prices. Sacramento-based landscaper Doug Guster, 71, said he's lost over $800 in profit from his business due to rising fuel prices and customers canceling their services amid budgetary constraints since the start of the war with Iran.
"Over the last few weeks, I've lost like five or six customers because I have to raise my prices — all because of these gas prices," Guster said while filling up at a Foods Co. gas station in Sacramento. "I didn't want to. But otherwise it comes out of my pockets, my overhead cost."
