Gas prices are on the decline nationwide and many states are boasting lower prices than a year ago. But for some in the Mountain West, that’s not the case.
Across the region the average price of regular gas is about $3.55, compared to the national average of $3.32, as of Friday. The cheapest gas is in Colorado at around $3.05, according to the American Automobile Association. But prices in Nevada average $4.34 a gallon and are higher than they were a year ago, AAA’s data shows. Prices in Idaho and Utah are also higher than they were last year.
Patrick De Haan heads petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a company that tracks gas prices. He says some states are still recovering from price hikes after refinery outages.
“Though you might not be quite as low as everyone, gas prices have fallen in every state compared to a month ago, every single one,” he said.
Nevada has the most expensive regular gas, as of Friday, followed by Idaho at $3.86, Arizona at $3.75, Utah at $3.68, Montana at $3.31, Wyoming at $3.20, New Mexico at $3.13, and then Colorado.
De Haan says by the end of the year he expects prices to drop another 25 to 50 cents, if there aren’t significant global changes.
“Americans collectively are saving hundreds of millions of dollars on fuel compared to what it was this summer, so it’s quite an amount of savings,” De Haan said.
When it comes to diesel, AAA says New Mexico and Colorado have the cheapest prices in the region at around $4.64, almost a dollar less than in Idaho. De Haan expects diesel prices to also continue to fall.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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