Year Ends On High Note For Drivers With Lowest Prices

Editors note: Weekend Gas Watch is being published one day early this week due to the holiday.

Southern California drivers are now paying $1 less a gallon for gasoline than this time last year as gas prices today sank to their lowest level in five-and-a-half years, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch. The retail state average is $2.64 a gallon for regular today, 6.8 cents less than last Wednesday, $1.01 less than last New Year’s Eve, and $1.62 less than the highest price of 2014.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $2.658 per gallon, which is 7.3 cents less than last Wednesday, 44 cents less than last month, and $1.03 lower than last year. In San Diego, the average price is $2.628, which is 6.9 cents less than last Wednesday, 44 cents lower than last month, and $1.06 lower than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $2.739, 7.3 cents less than last Wednesday, 36 cents lower than a month ago, and 98 cents less than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per-gallon price is $2.615, down 6.7 cents from last Wednesday, 44 cents less than last month, and $1.05 less than last year.

“A Southern California driver using 750 gallons of gas a year saved more than $100 in fuel costs in 2014 compared to 2013, and is now paying $25 less per 15-gallon fill-up than at the 2014 peak price average of $4.30 a gallon,” said Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring. “While California carbon credits will have an unknown effect on gas prices going into 2015, we’re fairly certain for the near future that gas prices will at least stay stable, since wholesale prices continue to be more than $1 below what most gas stations are charging for regular unleaded.”

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline. As of 9 a.m. on Dec. 31, averages are: