Rising gas prices: What you can do?
JACKSON, Tenn. — Pain at the pump is being felt across the U.S. and the world. Many drivers across the state are paying more attention to the gas gauge…. Now seeing a difference in their gas mileage.
The average price for a gallon of gas now stands at $3.48 in the United States. That’s a jump of 17% since the operation in Iran started slightly more than a week ago. No relief is in sight as the price of oil jumped above $100 per barrel Sunday.
In Tennessee, gas prices have surged $0.42 in the last week. Despite the increase, Tennessee is still the 6th least expensive market in the nation as stated by AAA statistics.
West Tennesseans are feeling the pinch as well. Many people we spoke with didn’t want to appear on camera, but they tell us with some of their children’s extracurricular activities, getting from place to place on a budget has been a struggle.
The state gas price average has moved from $2.68 a gallon to $3 per gallon for the first time since August 2024.
“We’ve seen those significant increases, and we’ve seen that pain at the pump. Right now we’re at a point where we saw some crude oil prices increase over the week. Those political tensions are causing a rise in crude oil prices. Even though we don’t import oil from Iran those tensions, and the volatility in the market is really affecting everyone at this point,” said Megan Cooper, spokeswoman for AAA, The Auto Club Group.
60% of the price you see at the pump is crude oil. Smart drivers are using fuel rewards to help offset the increased cost of filling up.
“Places like Walmart, Sam’s, and Costco offer their member discounts on that gasoline, but more than likely your local station has a fuel rewards that you can take advantage of,” said Cooper.
Political tensions are not the only denominator in the increase…It’s that change in the season too.
“This time of year we see the switch from winter blend to summer blend fuel. Summer blend is more expensive to produce, so we see that reflected in our gas prices as well,” said Cooper.
Experts with AAA express the importance of daily driving habits. It can be useful to combine errands, carpool, stay up to date on vehicle maintenance, and use an all-in-one shopping strategy to find everything you need at one place…in one trip.
“A lot of us have stuff that we’re carrying around in our vehicle that we don’t need. The lighter that you’re vehicle is the more fuel efficient that it is, so if you have things left in your car especially if they’re heavy go ahead and take those out unless you need them,” said Cooper.
The AAA mobile app can be super helpful because you can get more of a bird’s-eye view of what the prices are at stations in your local area. You can view that without having to drive around and waste fuel.
