The price of gas in Sacramento looked as though it would stay up over $4 per gallon and stay there. Thankfully, although it hit $4.20 in the first week of May, it seems to be stabilizing around $3.70.
Stabilizing, other than the unknown effect of the S&P rating downgrade from gold-plated AAA to a slightly jaded AA+.
This week, the average retail gasoline prices in Sacramento fell 2.1 cents per gallon, to an average of $3.73/g yesterday.
The national average fell 3.7 cents per gallon to $3.66/g, according to gasoline price website SactoGasPrices.com.
Although prices are lower than in April and May, they are 62.3 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago, and 5.9 cents higher than a very short dip just over a month ago.
Sacramento prices are usually lower than those seen in San Francisco, but this week, San Francisco gets a break, with prices the same as Sactown.
The key to saving money, as always, is to shop around, with prices varying across Sacramento from one station offering gas for $3.55 and two up in the clouds at $3.89.
“We’re watching an incredible decline in the price of crude oil and gasoline futures that will most certainly have an impact in the upcoming week at the pump. While motorists won’t see large drops all at once, I most certainly expect declines in the days ahead,”
– Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst
The price of crude oil declined rapidly in the past week, $15 per barrel according to Patrick DeHaan, a Petroleum Analyst with Gasbuddy.com. DeHaan says that decline may be due to a weak manufacturing report and the U.S. credit rating downgrade.