The good news is that motorists can refuel their vehicles at some of the lowest costs in most people's lifetime.
The bad news, of course, is that with the current travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders, fewer Chattanoogans can take advantage of the cheaper gas.
The average price of regular gas in Chattanooga fell this week by another 2.2 cents a gallon to $1.51 a gallon, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 stations. Gas prices in Chattanooga are 30.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and are 96 cents per gallon cheaper than a year ago.
Although the average price of gas in Chattanooga briefly dipped to only $1.44 a gallon in March 2016, Monday's fuel prices are still 4 cents a gallon cheaper than the 2016 levels, when adjusted for inflation.
With improved gas mileage of most vehicles and smaller gas tanks as a result, filling up most cars in inflation-adjusted dollars has never been cheaper for most Americans and Monday's record drop in oil prices is likely to mean even lower prices at the pump for the rest of this spring.
"With oil again at new multi-decade lows, we still have room for prices to fall nearly countrywide," said Patrick Dehaan, an analyst for Gas Buddy.com, who said gas prices have now fallen for eight consecutive weeks. "Truly unprecedented demand destruction has been dismantling expensive gas prices everywhere."
Gas was priced cheapest in Chattanooga on Monday at a BP station on Norcross Road where a gallon of regular gas sold for just $1.18. Chattanooga fuel prices, on average, are 27 cents a gallon below the U.S. average, according to GasBuddy.com.
Gas prices are falling as motorists stay at home and use only a fraction of the gasoline they consumed before the coronavirus came to the United States.
Traffic on most highways and roads is less than half of what it was a year ago at this time, according to figures compiled by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The Center for Urban Information at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which is studying traffic patterns along M.L. King Boulevard in downtown Chattanooga, counts far fewer motorists on the road compared with the period before the coronavirus crisis.
TVA cuts power prices
While gasoline prices are falling, electricity prices also are continuing to decline. The Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday it will again be cutting the price of its electricity in May to reflect the cheaper costs for the fuel it uses to generate electricity. With natural gas and coal prices down and more abundant hydroelectric and nuclear power, TVA's fuel expenses have dropped along with the usual springtime decline in the power load due to milder weather.
A typical homeowner in Chattanooga who consumes the average 1,295 kilowatthours of electricity each month will pay $136.70 for power in May, or $2.65 less than what an EPB residential customer would have paid a year ago. The nearly 2% drop in electricity prices is due entirely to a decline in the monthly fuel cost adjustments made by TVA.
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said TVA has reduced its electricity prices in each of the past four months due to abundant rain, which is providing more hydro generation, and cheaper natural gas and coal prices due to the drop in overall energy demand and use of fossil fuels last month, which helps determine the May fuel cost adjustment. Fuel costs next month will be the lowest for TVA in over a decade.
"TVA's actual fuel costs in March were the lowest since 2006 when we started calculating the fuel cost separately," Brooks said. "That translates into one of the lowest monthly fuel costs on record coming up in May."
Brooks said TVA's fuel costs are lower than 90 percent of the nation's other power producers.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.
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| Chattanooga Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com |