Drivers Feeling Pain At The Pump, Experts Predict Gas Prices Could Reach $4 Per Gallon In New York City
SECAUSUS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — More people are feeling the economic squeeze as the Labor Department says inflation has soared to its highest rate in more than four decades.
Consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month, compared to a year before — the steepest one-year increase since 1982. Supply shortages, low interest rates, federal aid and high consumer spending are all contributors.
As CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge reported Thursday, gas prices have been seriously affected.
Gas prices typically drop in the first few months of the year as people stay inside and avoid the cold, but experts say this year is different due to the weather and geopolitical tensions. The prediction for drivers is it’s only going to get worse.
“You can feel it. I just got gas, it was probably $15 more right now to fill a tank,” Chris Tafaro said.
Tafaro, who used to work as a crude oil trader, has been watching closely as the average price of a gallon of gas hit $3.47 nationally, according to AAA.
New York City is up to $3.67 per gallon, eight cents more than last week.
New Jersey is up to $3.55, 11 cents more.
Long Island is up to $3.60, also 11 cents more.
“It’s tripled,” Linda Zaccone said. “My God is used to be $1.79, $1.59 for fuel. I’m paying $3.59, in probably a year. I was taking road trips to Virginia to see my family. Now I’m not. I don’t take road trips.”
Experts say the increase is spiked by worries over instability in Eastern Europe.
“All of this has to do with the tensions that we’re seeing between Russia and Ukraine,” said Robert Sinclair of AAA Northeast. “If that becomes a shooting war, there’s serious worries about oil supply.”
Extreme winter weather is also to blame.
“The extra demand for electricity to heat homes and businesses resulted in power generating plants switching over, very often, to oil to create that extra electricity,” Sinclair said.
It’s bumped the price of crude oil to $90 per barrel, nearly $30 more than in August.
“A lot of analysts are saying that we’ll hit $100 per barrel. If that happens we could be looking at prices for gasoline in New York City close to $4 a gallon, and that’s going to be very, very harmful,” Sinclair said.
“I don’t know, what can we do about it? Get an electric car?” Tafaro said. “I’m just gonna keep filling it up and just try to not drive if I can.”
In a survey from 2018, during a good economy, 40% of drivers said their “pain point,” their threshold, for gas would be $3 per gallon.
Experts predict prices will keep climbing.
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February 10, 2022 at 10:57PM
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