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SALT LAKE CITY — Prices at the gas pump have fallen significantly in nearly every state, but the Beehive State is not among them.
Drivers in 45 states saw pump prices drop by double digits over the last month, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. But the average gasoline price in Utah dipped by a mere 3 cents.
Only Illinois prices showed a smaller decrease at just 2 cents. Other states reporting only single digit decreases were Wyoming, down 7 cents, while Colorado and Wisconsin were both down 8 cents.
For the month, the current average price for fuel in Utah registered at $2.80 a gallon — down 80 cents from a year ago. Gas prices in all of the cities surveyed by the AAA Utah report decreased from last month with the exception of Salt Lake City, where the average price held steady.
All of the Utah cities surveyed reported mean per gallon prices under the $3 mark, but Utah's average price ranks as the fifth highest in the lower 48 states. Only California, Idaho, Nevada and Washington paid more at the pump than in Utah.
Nationally, the average price registered at $2.39 a gallon — down 22 cents from last month and $1.05 less than one year ago.
Ironically, the oil-rich state of Alaska registered the highest overall prices at $3.35 per gallon, with California reporting the highest price in the continental U.S. at $3.26 per gallon.
Meanwhile, South Carolina reported the lowest average price of $1.97 a gallon.
"Nationwide, prices are expected to continue to drop through the fall," said AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough. "This expectation is contingent upon the price of crude remaining relatively low and refineries being able to perform routine maintenance as they switch to the lower cost winter formulation."
