Gas Prices Soar in Hurricane Harvey's Wake

Consumer Reports
Gas Prices Soar in Hurricane Harvey's Wake

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Drivers this Labor Day weekend will quickly discover that the after-effects of Hurricane Harvey have caused fuel prices to spike nationwide. The good news: Prices should return to normal after a few weeks.

The national average price of unleaded gasoline is at its highest point so far this year at $2.45 a gallon, the American Automobile Association reported. Jeanette Casselano, a AAA spokeswoman, says consumers can expect prices to continue to tick slightly upwards for a few weeks before they come back down to pre-Harvey levels.

The AAA predicts that 35 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more this holiday weekend.

Gas Prices Won’t Spike for Long

“Consumers will see a short-term spike in the coming weeks with gas prices likely topping $2.50 a gallon (nationally), but the should be quickly dropping by mid- to late September,” Casselano said. She added that limited damage to oil refineries and related infrastructure should mitigate any long-term price increases.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy, agrees that the nationwide uptick is only temporary. “Increases will fade in the next week,” he told Consumer Reports, “but the overall amount of time it will take prices to go back to pre-Harvey levels may be 4-6 weeks, maybe longer.”

Who will be hit the hardest? Casselano says that not surprisingly, the South and Southeast will see gas prices increase the most because they receive the bulk of the gasoline produced along the Gulf Coast.

Here are the highest price increases per gallon so far since Harvey came ashore in Texas, according to AAA:

South Carolina: +19 cents

Delaware: +18 cents

Kentucky: +17 cents

Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina: +16 cents

Maryland: +14 cents

Alabama, Kansas: +13 cents

Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virgina: +12 cents

Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Texas and Virginia: +11 cents

The Northeast is stepping in to barge fuel shipments to points South, DeHaan said. Because of that, “areas of the Northeast could see another increase of 15 to 35 cents per gallon," he added.

The West Coast and Rockies regions will see increases, but not to the extent of the rest of the country, Casselano said.

In Houston, Empty Stations and Price Hikes

Gas is scarce in Houston itself, one resident told CR, and because some stations in Texas are reportedly charging higher than normal prices, the Texas Attorney General’s office is asking consumers to report those stations. Consumers can lodge complaints here, or call 1-800-631-0508.

Houston resident Terese Pierce found pricey gas yesterday at a station in North Texas. She and her family have been being unable to get back into their home after their subdivision was flooded, so she headed to Denver to drop one of her daughters off at college.

Normally, Pierce told CR on Friday, she would refill her car only when the gas tank was down to a quarter full, “but this trip, I haven’t even touched a half-a-tank because I don’t want to be stuck and not be able to get my kid to college,” she said. “There are tons of gas stations all around Houston that are empty.”

As she and her daughter approached Fort Worth from the south on I-35W, they stopped at a station that seemed to have gas. “I didn’t even notice the price at first,” she said, but it was $3.59 a gallon. She was so taken aback by the price that she posted a photo of the pump price on Facebook. She had earlier paid just $2.19 a gallon in Brookshire, Texas, she said.

The AAA’s Casselano says gas prices should not be subject to wild swings upward, even though they've gone up in recent days. “As in any national or local state of emergency, we expect gas prices to be held in check up and down the gasoline supply chain, unless there is a clearly justifiable reason for an increase.”

How to Save on Gas

To improve your fuel economy, Consumer Reports recommends:

  • Driving at 55 mph instead of 65 or 75. It will save you money. When CR drove a Honda Accord at a steady 65 mph, the car's fuel economy dropped to 42 mpg from 49 mpg when it was driven at 55 mph. Driving 75 mph dropped results to 37 mpg. “Aerodynamic drag increases exponentially the faster you drive,” said John Ibbotson, chief mechanic at CR. “It simply takes more fuel to power the car through the air.”

  • Avoid hard acceleration and braking whenever possible. In CR tests, frequent bursts of acceleration and braking reduced one test car's mileage by 2 to 3 mpg, said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at CR.

  • Don't carry things on top of your vehicle when you don't have to. “When we installed bikes on a rooftop carrier atop the Accord driving 65 mph, fuel economy dropped a whopping 35 percent, to 27 mpg from 42 mpg,” Ibbotson said. “Even the empty rack created enough drag to suck gas mileage down 5 mpg.”



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