California gas prices have gone up 12 cents in the past month and they’re not expected to go down anytime soon. According to a new report, Wall Street can be blamed for the increase.
Emma Pendleton filled up her car at a Shell station in East Sacramento and wasn't happy about paying $3.29 a gallon.
“What’s going on? Everything is going up, except my pay,” Pendleton said. “How are we going to live, especially the poor people?”
AAA says prices are up 35 cents from last year at this time.
“Investors are the ones who are driving that,” said Matt Skyra with AAA of Northern California.
Skrya said the better the worldwide economy looks, the more attractive crude oil becomes as an investment because of a potential rise in demand.
California’s average gas price is the third highest among all 50 states and Skrya said that’s because of taxes and state-mandated fuel additives.
“Anytime anything is put into the gasoline to make it burn cleaner as is required in California that is going to be passed onto the consumer,” Skyra said.
The average price for a gallon of gas in California is now $3.26.
