XENIA — Gas prices have risen all over the Miami Valley, increasing by almost 40 cents in some places.
Drivers in the Dayton area are paying around $2.82 per gallon according to AAA, which is nearly a quarter more than two days ago. Prices in Clark County are averaging $2.81 per gallon. Miami County and Greene County are averaging $2.86 and $2.84 per gallon, respectively.
“I saw $2.47 like two days ago, figured that’s what I was gonna get when I filled up today and it’s already up to $2.85,” Xenia Resident Chuck Hurley said.
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Hurley told News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz that it’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing price of gas.
“I saw the marathon up there was $2.85 I thought that was too high compared to what I saw the other day. And then I come here it’s $2.85. So it must be the standard now,” Hurley said.
According to Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy, Dayton, the state of Ohio and the Great Lakes region all go through Price cycling.
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“Stations basically ignore minor daily fluctuations in the price that they pay for gasoline, they undercut each other a couple of pennies every day. That ends when a station starts undercutting too much and starts losing money. And then they raise prices,” De Haan said.
News Center 7′s Hershovitz saw gas stations with drastically different prices, ranging from $2.89 on one side of US-35 and $2.60 just across the street.
“Normally stations will shop each other a couple of times a day. But that can also mean that for a couple of hours, one station has gone up while the other hasn’t yet realized that the station across the street hasn’t gone up. That gap will probably have closed by later today,” De Haan said.
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So where do prices go from here? According to De Haan, it depends.
“If nothing happens, gas prices actually would have room to drop. However, if something drastic happens like a refinery in Northwest Ohio has a small fire because of the extreme cold weather. Well, that could then worsen and could cause prices to go up,” De Haan said.
As for Hurley, he said he’ll just keep filling up as he needs.
“Just kind of pick the average. I mean, I’m not gonna drive all over town looking for the cheapest price,” Hurley said.
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