The war in Iran has caused a spike in gas prices that is hitting California consumers especially hard, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
AAA reports that in California, the most expensive US market for gas, the average price per gallon on Monday was $5.20, compared with $3.47 nationally. The national average climbed nearly $0.50 since the conflict began more than a week ago, while in the Golden state it rose by $0.55.
Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, leading to intensifying violence across the Middle East, the price of oil surged to more than $100 a barrel for the first time in nearly four years. The conflict has damaged oil and gas facilities and stranded ships carrying roughly 20m barrels of oil a day in the Gulf.
About 20% of the world’s oil is shipped through the strait of Hormuz every day but the channel has essentially been closed for the last week.
Dang the summer blend fuel is gonna be north of $6 gallon then.
This is just the beginning. We are all paying Netanyahu’s war tax.
Nobody forced the whole west to support israel
The Media: “Dear Leader gets tough with Iran! Victory is coming. But first the latest Taylor Swift news, and MARCH MADNESS!”
BUT I THIUGHT BUDEN DID THAT?!?!’mj
Profit margins must be maintained.
Pretty glad I drive an electric car right now.
Only half joking, but all of the new data centers raising energy prices are unfortunately coming for you too. Still way cheaper than the gas equivalent though.
Jokes on you, I’ve got an electric car and solar panels. Fuck the grid!
Man I wish I could do that, but I’d be fucked come winter.
I currently have a fixed price deal. The price is not ideal, but it’s bearable year-round and I don’t use that much electricity in the summer when the market rate is cheaper.
If I had solar panels and wanted it to be connected to the grid (so I wouldn’t have to run them on a separate circuit and could also sell back the excess), I’d be forced to the market rate package. Which in the winter can get ridiculously expensive. And it’s not like there’s a lot of sunshine here in the winter. 6 hours from sunrise to sunset and it’s cloudy most days - and if it’s not cloudy, it gets super cold and electricity demand goes up even more.
Our household has solar panels, two EVs, and a heat pump located in the Midwest. We still have 1:1 net metering so its nearly the ideal conditions as far as energy harvest and economic landscape. I know this won’t last, but I’m enjoying for the years that I can.
We also have a separate deductive meter where we can get about 25% discount on electricity that charges the cars. We only use it during the cold months because car electricity is free during the rest of the year from solar.
We have a small electricity bill in November, then big beefy electricity bills and for when the our location on Earth its tilted away the sun for the very cold months of Dec Jan, and Feb. March we get a bill but its about 1/10 of the cold months, and then usually electric bill until November again.
With the installation of our heat pump we cut off our natural gas connection. So the only energy bill we have is electricity during the cold months. No natural gas bill, no gasoline bill.
Hot damn I wish I could do that. We recently had our first semi serious look into solar for our place. Maybe someday.
If it gets expensive, I can always get solar. Once you pay for the initial investment of the equipment, it’s basically free energy for decades.
I want to say our estimated break even was about a decade at our current consumption. I definitely need to get more quotes and see what the market has to offer. It’s 100% a bucket list item for me. My other hesitation is that I don’t want to live in my state for another 10 years. I think that I’m probably stuck here, but I feel once I pull that trigger, I’ve sealed my fate. My family and my wife’s are relatively near by, and while I’d move tomorrow if I could and budget for flights back, my wife does not feel the same.
I want to say our estimated break even was about a decade at our current consumption.
That calculation also likely assumes electricity prices stay the same for a decade. If electricity prices increase, your payback date arrives sooner.
True. Something I hadn’t taken into consideration. We’ve got a couple data centers coming up over the next couple years on my power grid. They’re for sure going to increase costs.
DCs are like roaches these days. If you see two going in, there are probably ten more than you don’t know about also going in.
What does the truck that delivers your food run on?
No idea, but I feel it a lot more when commuting goes up 50% than when food goes up 20%.
Also, if I can have just one of those, instead of both, why wouldn’t I want that??
You’re still affected by this as nearly everything you buy was transported on a truck.
You’re still affected by this as nearly everything you buy was transported on a truck.
Also, Californians pay 3x the national average for electricity too.
The thing is EV owners have more money left for food.
Or, in my case, cyclists - a am mid-fifty now, and never hada car. When I feel the need to smile, I sum up the money I have saved this way.
Us$5 a gallon? That’s almost Canadian prices. Just a little higher and that’s our day-to-day.
US gallon is 3.8 litres. Before Iran, we were paying $CDN 4.70, or $US3.10.
Now it’s $CDN5.70, or $US3.76.
US$5 would be CDN$1.75 a liter.
So no. Why are Canadians so stupid about gas prices?
California taxes gasoline a lot compared to other states. It’s usually 2$ more than Texas
Sure, but it only taxes a gallon $0.50 more than Texas.
Ha. Try 2.40/litre ($11/gallon) in Norway.
US gallon is 3.78L. $9/gallon.
Ah, you’re right. My goodness, couldn’t the Americans even agree with the rest of the world on make-believe silly-units?
“While we can agree that a gallon should be the nice, round sum of 32 gills, I find it ludicrous that you define it as five fluid ounces. I’m putting my foot down. In the United States, it will be the much more manageable four ounces, which will be a different size to your ounces. Nyyyaanyyaanyanyanyaaa!”
You haven’t had decades of anti-public-transit propaganda in Norway, I bet.
Don’t need the propaganda, we just need a completely Oslo-centric government that will happily spend money on public transit, as long as it’s in Oslo. Pretty much all the governments have been like that for most of my life.
True, but density, public transportation, social services, and electrification are very different in much of the US. Fuel prices hit differently depending on where you live in the world.
Fuel prices hit hard of you’re a Norwegian living outside of the cities (which is the majority of Norwegians). You really need to have a car in the countryside, as both buses and trains are few and far between. There’s still plenty of fossil-fueled vehicles out here. People keep them because they either can’t afford to make the jump over to electric, don’t trust the EV’s to handle winter well enough, or because they’re worried about the technological hurdle (Norway is an aging population).
True. Almost all new vehicles are EVs, but 70% of the existing vehicles on the road are ICE. Super impressive, but that tank of fuel is extra painful if you’re in the countryside.
Maybe the US needs $11/gallon as medicine.
My hope is that the price of fuel goes so crazy that people can’t afford to drive to work, causing a general strike.
Yeah probably
True, our fuel prices are way higher here in Europe, but we have a solid public transportation network, we have walkable cities and in countries like Norway the EVs are the majority.
From everything I’ve seen about US cities and American friends I talk to, for most people, if you don’t have a car you can’t get to work. That is a thought that is hard to process for Europeans.
If you don’t have a car you can’t get to work
This is it. This is the difference. Along with everything being spread out, and fuel efficient cars being a distinct minority. “Just ride a bike” is something I’d love to do, but I’d get killed by some monster-fueled purposefully stupid prick in a truck. And that person might get a ticket. The very idea of taking a bus or train to work is pure fantasy where I live.
Norway isn’t dense. It has less population density than the US does
True.
I’m primarily talking about specific regions of the US, not the whole place. Many places in the US are famous for sprawl.
Take a city like Huston, Texas. Triple the population of Oslo, but everyone is insanely spread out, and even city centers don’t feel particularly walkable.
Allowing for currency conversion it’s USD8.23 / gallon here in Victoria, Australia.
Diesel’s just about the same here in Estonia and it’s far from the most expensive in Europe when it comes to fuel. I believe that the Dutch enjoyed this price level when oil prices were fine - I don’t want to know what they have now.
Diesel is €2,50ish per liter now
Over $6 here
Bay Area
I’m guessing your in the City
San Diego?
Something you may have glossed over if you don’t live in California: March is when the state begins to the switch to “Summer-blend” (a mix of spealized petroleum with 10.5% to 15% ethanol) which is required to be available by April 1 and until October 31. The price of gas was going to increase regardless.
That is a brutal price to see. Wow.
Give it a couple days, its $5…so far…
Just paid $4.89, and that’s at the cheapest gas station I know of for 20 miles. It’s 5.50 ish around me for the most part.
