Lipow Oil Associates president Andy Lipow discusses how energy taxes in the new spending bill will affect consumers on ‘Cavuto: Coast to Coast.’
The national average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the U.S. dropped to just below $4 a gallon on Wednesday, for the first time since March.
While the $3.99 per gallon national average is a sizable decline from its highest — a $5.02 per gallon national average that consumers saw in June — the dip is caused by record-high inflation that has crippled travelers’ wills to go anywhere, experts said.
Facing the rising costs of going and doing, consumers have instead opted to stay home.
“What we are starting to see is that widespread inflation has really made a weaker consumer,” Edward Moya, a senior market analyst with Oanda Corp, told the Wall Street Journal. “So what you have is a consumer that is not planning big trips. They are not fully back into the office.”
FALLING GAS PRICES COULD ‘STALL OUT’ DUE TO CERTAIN FACTORS, GASBUDDY ANALYST WARNS
A person removes the nozel from a pump at a gas station on July 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
OPIS, a pricing and analysis provider, said the national average stood at $3.99 a gallon Wednesday afternoon, with at least 20 states seeing the price of gas under that figure.
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina have the price of gas as low as $3.49 per gallon, AAA.com reported.
Gas prices listed at a petrol station in Los Angeles, California on July 19, 2022. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Gas prices in the U.S. were the highest ever in June, according to OPIS data.
The record-high price was almost immediately met with a decline in demand.
A July survey from AAA found more drivers were driving less, citing the prices they had to pay at the pump.
“I’m trying to limit as much extra driving as possible,” an Oklahoma driver told the Wall Street Journal. “I would avoid a commute if I could work from home one day a week, just not to burn gas at those prices,” the driver added.
“It’s still too high!” said another driver from Los Angeles. “That’s like telling me the 20-foot ceiling is now 15 feet. I still can’t reach it.”
A driver pumps gas into their vehicle at a Gulf gas station, which is selling regular gas at $4.09 a gallon, in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, on July 19, 2022. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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President Joe Biden has repeatedly touted the gas price fall.
Biden is also continuing to urge Congress to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which he claims would significantly reduce inflation, though some economists disagree.
