For the first time in months, state and national gas price averages have declined, said AAA Northeast.
Today’s average gas price for a gallon of self-serve, regular in Connecticut today is $2.89, a penny lower than this time last week, but 72 cents higher than this time last year.
On the national level, the $2.86 average price is 2 cents lower than last week but 84 cents higher than last year.
In both cases, gas prices began a steady rise since late November 2020.
“Growing inventories and cheaper crude prices are contributing to price drops at the pump,” said Fran Mayko, AAA Northeast spokeswoman. “This is a positive sign but it’s still early to say this is a downward trend.”
Even though demand, one of many factors influencing gas prices, continues to rise, current demand levels are still lower than a year ago. “However, if demand continues to increase, higher prices will follow,” added Mayko.
Crude prices, another contributing price factor, have been fluctuating between the upper $50 to lower $60 mark in reaction to several global incidents, including new European Union lockdowns, tight vaccination supplies worldwide, and the Suez Canal incident involving a stranded container ship that was just re-floated today. Industry experts believe the Suez incident will likely have limited impact on US supplies since the industry should be able to maintain a supply balance stateside that will stabilize prices.
Here is AAA’s weekly price survey of Connecticut’s six metro regions:
Greater Bridgeport $2.95 Lower Fairfield County $2.95
New Haven/Meriden $2.87 Greater Hartford $2.86
New London/Norwich $2.95 Windham/Middlesex $2.89
Statewide Average: $2.89
Today, Mississippi registers the lowest prices in the nation at $2.59, followed by Ohio and South Carolina, both at $2.61. California and Hawaii continue to hold the highest prices in the nation at $3.90 and $3.65, respectively. Connecticut holds steady at the 17th place on the list of highest gas prices in the nation. Average gas prices may be obtained daily through www.gasprices.aaa.com.