The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in Atlanta is near its highest level since last fall when a pair of pipeline disruptions caused the price to spike, but this jump is only seasonal. Garrett Townsend, a spokesman for AAA in Georgia, noted prices generally rise in the spring for several reasons.
“We just made the switch to the summer blend,” he said. Federal regulations require gas stations to sell fuel that is lower in pollutants in the warmer months, and that gas costs more to produce. Plus you have spring break travel and people are ramping up for summer vacation.”
He noted the price of crude oil has been stable to even a little lower, and that could limit the warm-weather price hikes.
On Tuesday, the average cost of the regular gasoline in the Atlanta area was $2.28.9 per gallon. That is down a fraction of a cent from Monday’s average. It was about a penny higher last week, but it was more than 11 cents less a month ago. The current price is about 17 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. In the short term, AAA expects prices to creep up a bit more.
“It is pretty volatile,” Townsend said. “June is where we usually see the year’s high mark. It starts to go down from there.”
Georgia has more expensive gasoline than many other southern states Neighboring states Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina all had average gas prices a dime lower than Georgia.
