BEND, OR -- Gas prices are holding at or near year-to-date highs for 2015, across the country. Marie Dodds with AAA-Oregon, tells KBND the national average for regular unleaded dropped a penny in the last week, while the statewide average jumped 7-cents. "The national average is at $2.79, that’s a penny below its year-to-date high. The Oregon average is at its year-to-date high, at $3.14 a gallon. And, here in Bend, we’re also at our year-to-date high of $3.16 a gallon, and that’s up 8-cents in the past week."
Dodds says west coast refinery issues are contributing to the problem; but here in Central Oregon, tourist season is also a big factor. "One thing that we do tend to see along the Oregon Coast and also in popular areas like Bend, gasoline is a supply and demand product. If I own a gas station and I know that I’m going to have a lot of tourists flocking to my area, I might raise the prices a little bit. There are no laws or rules that say how much a station owner can charge for gasoline." She suggests drivers shop around to find the best price, and suggests finding a mobile app that will do the comparisons for you.
But, it's not all bad news. She says, as we head toward the long Fourth of July weekend, "I would say gas prices are going to be pretty close to what they are now. The good news is, gas prices are way below what we were paying a year ago. Even though we’ve seen gas prices move up over the last several weeks, we’re still paying quite a bit less. In fact, the national average is about .90 less than it was a year ago. And, overall in Oregon, we’re paying around .82 a gallon less than we were a year ago."
