Even with a slight bounce early this week as retailers played “follow the leader” and hiked prices moderately, average gas prices reported in the Toledo metropolitan area on the eve of Labor Day weekend had given back nearly all of the meteoric climb they took from March through May.
Ohioans heading out of state will do well, however, to fill up before they cross a state line unless they’re heading south.
The price-tracking website Gasbuddy reported statewide average prices higher than Ohio’s $3.656 per gallon for regular in five of the six bordering states on Friday, with the lower average being in Kentucky at $3.456 per gallon.
And with summer vacation season drawing to a close, the prices that shot up just over $5 a gallon both locally and as a nationwide average in June left their mark.
Kara Hitchens, a spokesman for AAA Northwest Ohio, said nearly two-thirds of Ohioans responding to an auto club survey in June said they had either canceled travel plans because of soaring fuel prices or had not forsaken even making plans.
Ms. Hitchens said she had no data about the extent to which people altered their vacations to accommodate pricier fuel — either by traveling closer to home or by economizing on other elements like food and lodging — but Bridget Caster, a family co-owner of All American Coach on Alexis Road in Sylvania Township, said that was certainly the case with her company’s customers.
“The biggest difference was that we had a few who were planning big trips to Florida, and they decided to go north instead, mostly to the Upper Peninsula,” Ms. Caster said. “They were staying a little closer to home … [but] they were still able to vacation.”
Ohio destinations also were popular among local recreational-vehicle owners, she said.
“We have a lot to see that people don’t normally even think of around here, like the Hocking Hills,” Ms. Caster said.
While All American stopped selling new motorhomes and private buses in the late 2000s, she said, it still handles some used-vehicle sales for customers as well as selling fifth-wheel and travel trailers.
“It doesn’t have to have a motor attached to have the experience. When you’re camping, you can go out there and enjoy, live the lifestyle without having to invest a lot,” she said.
Ms. Htichens said that according to the auto club’s survey, 71 percent of Ohio drivers “say they adjusted their daily driving behaviors because of gas prices, with many people consolidating errands and trips and cutting back on driving as much as possible.”
According to Gasbuddy, whose averages are calculated from price reports submitted by volunteer spotters across North America, the national average price for regular Friday afternoon of $3.79 per gallon was just below the highest Sept. 2 price average, $3.832 per gallon in 2012, it has calculated since it began collecting such data in 2008.
Federal data from the Energy Information Administration shows gasoline pricing during the first week of September, 2012 to have been a record high for that time of year. The weekly average price for regular had topped $4 per gallon for the first time in May, 2008, but fallen to about $3.63 by Labor Day, 2008. The EIA’s average price for the first week of September in 2012 was $3.80.
Gasbuddy’s national average also was about 60 cents more per gallon than last year’s Sept. 2 price average. Metro Toledo’s average price was up 58 cents year-over-year.
Toledo’s average price of $3.652 per gallon for regular, reported Friday afternoon, was eight cents higher than a week before. Prices at some stations in the city had dipped into the $3.40s per gallon before local retailers, led by the Speedway convenience-store chain, pushed them back up to the upper $3.60s on Tuesday.
Even the slightly higher prices later in the week were nearly $1.40 per gallon cheaper than the local peak in early June of $5.08 per gallon.
Michigan’s $3.814 per gallon statewide average price Friday afternoon was 14.8 cents higher than Ohio’s, while travelers heading east or west should expect to pay even more in Indiana ($3.939) or Pennsylvania ($4.021) and more still in Illinois ($4.133). In West Virginia, the average price Friday afternoon was $3.711 per gallon for regular.
Summer 2022 had been expected to mark a travel rebound as coronavirus-related restrictions fell away, but skyrocketing fuel prices disrupted that narrative.
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February was most often cited for having pushed global oil prices higher, Gasbuddy noted as well that the United States’ refining capacity had shrunk by nearly 1 million barrels per day during the previous three years, further tightening gasoline supply.
Based on data from its Pay with Gasbuddy card, the tracking business said gasoline demand during Independence Day weekend was “notably lower” than that of 2021, and continuing weakness indicated that demand remains down as summer winds down.
“It was a dizzying time as gas prices surged ahead of summer, which caused many Americans to re-think their summer travel plans only for the longest decline in gas prices since the pandemic to start providing meaningful relief,” Patrick DeHaan, Gasbuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, said in a statement posted Thursday. “As the sun sets on summer, gas prices are in far more familiar territory and could continue to decline well into fall, barring major disruptions from hurricanes and the like.”
AAA’s Ms. Hitchens said a continuing price decline during the fall appeared less certain than in the past, but was still possible.
“Given the measures taken this summer to help consumers at the pump — release of the oil reserves and relaxing the clean fuel measures — it’s difficult to say gas prices will experience their usual drop in the fall,” she said. “However, a drop in travel could further impact the prices. As the summer travel season draws to a close, we expect to see less demand for gas. That could mean an increase in supply and stations dropping their prices to move gas.”
First Published September 2, 2022, 9:10 p.m.
