Idaho gas prices drop but still top national average. So, where will you pay less?
At the beginning of August, gas prices in the Boise area were inching close to $4 a gallon.
Since then, prices have gone down slightly in Idaho. In the Treasure Valley, the lowest price for regular unleaded gas on Monday was $3.71 per gallon at Costco warehouse stores in Boise, Meridian and Nampa, according to Gas Buddy, an online tracking service. That’s 8 cents cheaper than Costco’s price in early August.
While gas prices rose 2 cents a gallon nationally in the past week, Idaho’s prices dropped by 4 cents, according to an analysis by AAA Idaho. The Gem State was one of 15 states where the cost of gasoline fell.
Gas consumption typically falls after Labor Day, the end of the summer travel season. Nationally, 8.9 million gallons a day is being consumed, the lowest level since just before Memorial Day, the start of the summer driving season, according to AAA Idaho.
“Production is slowly ramping up, but right now, crude oil stocks are at their lowest level since 2017, when Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc in the Gulf,” AAA Idaho spokesperson Matthew Conde said in a press release. “Tight supplies are driving up the price of crude oil, and the national average price for gasoline is now at a seven-year high.”
The Boise area recorded Idaho’s highest gas prices. The highest price was $3.89 at several different stations. The average price, according to a AAA survey, was $3.88 per gallon, a penny more than in Twin Falls. Pocatello had gas for $3.79, while it was $3.70 in Idaho Falls.
Two Maverik stores in Caldwell, a Walmart in Meridian and a Shell station in Boise had gas for $3.77. Three more Maverik stores in Boise and Caldwell had it for $3.82.
The lowest prices were found in North Idaho, $3.43 in Coeur d’Alene and $3.48 in Lewiston.
The Idaho average was $3.77, which isn’t much to celebrate. The national average was 57 cents cheaper, at $3.20.
In July, the Gem State’s average price for regular unleaded surpassed $3.50 per gallon, a mark not seen since October 2014. In May 2020, a month and a half after the coronavirus pandemic reached the state, gas prices averaged $2.53 per gallon. In 2008, gas prices in Boise spiked to a record $4.16 a gallon.
Texas had the cheapest gas in September, at $2.80, while California had the most expensive, at $4.40.
Conde noted that the hurricane season in the South and on the East Coast is only at the halfway point, and there have already been 17 named storms. Damage from further storms could affect the gas supply, he said, if refineries get shut down.
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