Gasoline prices remain about 20-cents a gallon shy of their all-time high in Iowa. Meredith Mitts, spokeswoman for AAA-Iowa, says prices at the pump appear to have stabilized.
“Gas prices have kind of leveled out,” Mitts says. “Prices today are almost exactly the same as the statewide average from a month ago. They’re up a little bit from a week ago but we’re staying in roughly the same 10-cent range.” The statewide average is $3.84 a gallon and Mitts doubts prices will drop dramatically anytime soon.
“We’re not seeing the big jumps either direction anymore,” Mitts says. “They’ve kind of leveled out and the crude oil is about $100 a barrel, but we are seeing that demand is kicking back up now that the prices have started to fall again, and since the demand is picking back up, we’ll see that the gas prices are staying roughly the same.” The start of summer travel season is still several weeks away but Mitts says it’s a safe bet prices will rise around the big holidays like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.
“Those are very heavy travel periods,” Mitts says, “and hopefully we’ll remain roughly level the rest of the summer but it will really depend on how many people want to be traveling, how much of the strategic oil reserves are made available, what’s going on all around the country but also, all around the world.”
The current statewide average price is more than a dollar higher than Iowa’s average a year ago of $2.78. Iowa’s highest-ever average of $4.02 a gallon was set in July of 2008.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)