Springing Ahead

Officially, spring isn’t due in rainy Western Washington for more than a month, but you might think it is already here if your only data point is the cost to fill your gas tank. Along with all of the welcome things that are coming soon like longer days and warmer weather, there’s the slow torture of steadily climbing gas prices. My local Shell station (see photo), starting a bit early this year, hiked its prices four times this week. As of today, it is charging $3.619 for a gallon of regular, up $.08 since last Saturday.

Analysts list several reasons for the annual run-up in gas prices. The most important one is that Americans drive more in the spring and summer. In effect, we bid up the price by competing against each other for a fuel supply that doesn’t keep pace with seasonal demand. I can accept that although I have trouble believing that during the doldrums of mid-February “demand” was up 2.2 percent from a week ago.

One article I read attributed the earlier-than-usual price hikes to “anticipation” rather than a balancing between the current demand and supply. Whatever. I would use a different word: greed. I suppose another possibility is that the oil companies are doing us a favor with an early heads-up on where prices might be by Memorial Day.

Actually I wish they would be more specific. I want to know before then how far north of $4 a gallon gas is going this year. In fact, just get it over with and make one big price increase around the middle of April. Although my total gas bill for the year would be more that way, I would prefer one price hike to a seemingly endless stream of 2- and 3-cent increases. Easy for me to say, I know, because I don’t commute to work or run a business that’s transportation dependent.

Of course, things aren’t that simple. No one “knows” what the year’s highest average price is going to be. Tensions in the Middle East, the efforts of oil speculators, weather, and maybe even the presidential race all tend to complicate things. Plus the national average is just that: an average. In Western Washington, we would be happy if gas stations charged the national average. Our prices are always around 15 to 30 cents higher per gallon.

Since the oil companies wouldn’t take my suggestion anyway, I plan to dust off my GasBuddy membership and keep an eye on gas prices that way. That’s better than kicking myself over not buying gold in late December.