PROVIDENCE – “The average price of gasoline in Rhode Island has risen for the third straight week,” Lloyd P. Alpert, AAA Southern New England’s senior vice president for public and government affairs, wrote in the group’s weekly fuel-price report.
The auto club’s Jan. 19 survey found that self-serve, unleaded regular was selling for an average of $1.839 per gallon at Ocean State stations. That represented an increase of 9 cents over the past week (READ MORE) and 19 cents since Dec. 29. But it was still $2.27 less than July’s record high of $4.109 per gallon and $1.24 less than Rhode Island’s year-ago price of $3.079.
In neighboring Massachusetts, gasoline prices rose for the second consecutive week. The average self-serve price of unleaded regular rose 5 cents to $1.749 per gallon, after rising 7 cents in the week ended Jan. 12. But that still left the Bay State price $1.28 below the year-ago average of $3.029.
Nationwide this week, the average self-serve price of regular gasoline was $1.849, or 5 cents more than the $1.799 per gallon average in AAA’s Jan. 12 survey.
Meanwhile, at Rhode Island stations, the range in self-serve prices for unleaded regular widened to 22 cents this week from 14 cents a week ago. Prices ranged from a low of $1.739 to a high of $1.959. Wider ranges were seen for other grades of fuel, which had average self-serve prices of $1.959 per gallon for midgrade unleaded (up 9 cents per gallon), $2.079 for premium unleaded gasoline (up 8 cents) and $2.589 for diesel (unchanged for the third week in a row).
AAA Southern New England is a nonprofit auto club providing travel, insurance, finance and auto-related services to more than 2 million local members with 34 offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. To find the most up-to-date self-service and full-service gasoline prices in a given area, go to www.AAA.com and click on Gas Saving Tips & Tools.
