The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in San Diego County rose Friday for the seventh consecutive day, increasing 1.7 cents to $4.684, one day after recording its largest increase since Sept. 29, 2.9 cents.
The average price has risen 12.4 cents over the past seven days, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The streak of rising prices began one day after the end of an 18-day streak of decreases totaling 19.6 cents that dropped the average price to its lowest amount since Jan. 24, 2023.
The average price is 9.2 cents less than one month ago but 9.6 cents more than one year ago. It has dropped $1.751 since rising to a record $6.435 on Oct. 5, 2022.
"The Kinder Morgan gasoline pipeline servicing Southern California on Wednesday began shipping the more expensive summer blend of gasoline, which is required to be sold in most local areas as of April 1," said Doug Shupe, the Automobile Club of Southern California's corporate communications manager.
"The switch generally increases costs at the pump, and additional increases typically occur in February through May if there are supply shortages caused by planned or unplanned local refinery outages as they undergo annual maintenance."
The national average price rose for the fifth consecutive day after remaining unchanged for back-to-back days, increasing four-tenths of a cent to $3.154. It is 5.1 cents more than one week ago and 5 cents higher than one month ago, but 34.4 cents less than one year ago.
The national average has dropped $1.862 since rising to a record $5.016 on June 14, 2022.
