R.I. gas prices rise for 11th week, to $4.079

PROVIDENCE – “Gasoline prices locally have risen for the 11th consecutive week, leaving Rhode Island with prices more than a dollar a gallon higher than a year ago,” AAA Southern New England said in its weekly fuel-price report today.
AAA’s June 9 survey of stations nationwide found the average self-service price for regular unleaded gasoline in the Ocean State has risen to $4.079 per gallon – an increase of 6 cents from last week (READ MORE) and 94 cents since the start of the year – setting a new local record for the ninth week in a row. A year ago, the average local price was $3.009.
Nationwide, the nonprofit auto club found, the average price of self-serve regular rose 5 cents per gallon over the past week to a record $4.02 – or 5 cents below this week’s Rhode Island average.
The average price of self-serve regular is now at or above $4 per gallon in 19 states and the District of Columbia, AAA noted. In Massachusetts, the average price rose for the ninth straight week to a record $4.039 – an increase of 7 cents from last week and 98 cents from the beginning of the year – leaving Bay State motorists paying 1 cent more than the national average but 4 cents less than the average in the Ocean State.
The range in prices for self-serve regular at Rhode Island stations widened to 20 cents: from $3.999 to $4.199. Wider ranges were seen for other grades of gasoline, which had average self-serve prices of $4.209 for midgrade unleaded (up 6 cents from last week’s survey) and $4.309 for premium (up 5 cents).
Meanwhile, the self-serve price of diesel at local stations was unchanged from the June 2 survey at $4.939 per gallon – pausing just 7 cents short of the $5-per-gallon mark – after rising 4 cents the week before, AAA found.
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.