COLUMBUS – Consult two different measures of retail gas prices in the U.S. and you will get two very different answers about where they’ve been and where they’re going.
Look at the daily survey from the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc., (above) and the price continues to climb, especially in Ohio and the rest of the Midwest.
Ask industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey and she will tell you the price is a penny cheaper than on June 25, thanks to motorists pushing back against the rising cost of fueling up.
“There is a weak gasoline demand seen, even for this season, that’s a form of price resistance,” she said, adding the price may continue to slip if demand remains low.
The AAA survey says – while Lundberg’s national price was ticking lower over the last three weeks — the average price of gas in Columbus was soaring 32 cents to $2.85 Monday morning, 5 cents more expensive than a week ago.
The auto club’s survey indicated pump prices in nearly 30 states, including Ohio, jumped as much as eight cents between July 2 and 9.
The notoriously volatile Midwest and Great Lakes region saw some of the wildest swings, with Ohio’s 6-cent increase the second-highest in the nation, while drivers in Michigan saw their average price drop 7 cents, only to rebound the same amount this week to $2.96.
One area where the two surveys sync up: The national average price is more than 60 cents higher than it was a year ago.