Chattanooga gas prices rose another 6.4 cents a gallon last week to the highest price in six months.
The average price of regular fuel increased to $2.50 a gallon in Chattanooga on Sunday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 stations released today. Local prices at the pump have increased 26.3 cents a gallon in the past year, but Chattanooga prices still average 33 cents a gallon less than the U.S. average price for regular of $2.83 a gallon, GasBuddy. com said.
"The national average gas price has now risen for the ninth straight week, adding 57 cents a gallon in that time and now costing Americans about $200 million more per day than it did to start the year," said Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. "The effect of rising prices isn't about to let up as a spate of refinery outages on the West Coast and in California has given way to a tightening of summer blended gasoline in advance of the summer driving season set to kick in in the weeks ahead."
In California, gas prices average over $4 a gallon and McTeague predicts the price of regular gas could top $4.15 a gallon in coming weeks in California before there is any price relief. He projects the average national price of gas by be at $3 a gallon by the end of April.
Chattanooga gas prices are up 5.3 cents per gallon from the same time a year ago and are the highest for mid April in five years.
The cheapest gas in Tennessee today is available at Murphy USA in Dayton, Tennessee, where regular fuel is priced at $2.33 per gallon.
Chattanooga average gas prices remain 9 cents a gallon below the statewide average in Tennessee and are 12 cents a gallon below the average in Knoxville and a penny a gallon below the average in Huntsville, Alabama.