Hilo, Kona Fuel Prices See Slower Reduction

Gas prices on the Big Island continue to slide this week, however, the numbers aren’t as drastic as they have been in recent weeks.

Big Island Now broke down the numbers using AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report and Gas Buddy data to continue its watch over Big Island fuel prices.

Hilo’s average gas prices on Monday remained down from last week, but jumped in price over the past 24 hours for two different fuel grades. Regular fuel prices were an average of $2.88 on Monday, a four cent decrease from prices one week ago but a two cent rise in the past day. Mid-grade fuel saw a six cent drop in average to $2.95 this week, one cent less than Sunday’s average. Premium fuel costs saw an overall average change of four cents to $3.08, however, spiked in cost over the 24 hours from $3.01 on Sunday.

Analysis of AAA’s report shows that despite the slowed down fuel average drop, prices in Hilo have dropped drastically from what they were one month ago. Regular fuel in Hilo has dropped by 37 cents while mid-grade has dropped by 41 cents and premium fuel has decreased by 70 cents in average over the past month.

All grade levels of fuel in Hilo are over a dollar less in average price, compared to the same time in 2014. Regular fuel was $1.19 more per gallon during the fourth week of September in 2014. Mid-grade gasoline is an average of $1.20 less than last year, and premium fuel costs $1.19 less on average.

In addition to Hilo’s slowly declining numbers that have somewhat leveled off over the past two weeks, Kona has seen similar trends.

Big Island Now’s calculation of Gas Buddy data from Kona shows that regular fuel was an average of $3.10 on Monday, compared to $3.15 recorded last week, a drop of five cents in the past week and an 11 cent decrease over the past two weeks. Mid-grade gasoline was $3.21 on average, an 11 cent drop over the past week, despite remaining steady the prior week. Premium fuel also saw a similar comparison, costing an average of $3.25 Monday, a drop of 16 cents, although the price held at $3.41 for the two weeks prior.

In Honolulu, the average price of regular fuel cost 12 cents less than Hilo’s average and was 34 cents lower than Kona’s average regular fuel price. Residents on Oahu are paying an average of $2.76 for regular fuel, a decrease of five cents from last week and a total of 26 cents in the past month, the same rate as last week.

Diesel buyers in Hilo were paying an average of $4.17 on Monday, the same as what was reported for the previous two weeks. Honolulu diesel buyers are paying $4.47, once cent less than the average from one week ago.

Gasbuddy Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says that fuel prices across the nation have continued to decline as the Federal government has decided to hold interest rates steady as a result of “renewed pessimism in the oil patch.”

Club member-only prices, such as Costco and HFN, are excluded from this analysis and its averages.