Big Island Fuel Averages Balance Out

The Big Island’s weekly fuel averages may read the way a broken record sounds, but the slow and steady average drops, mixed in with brief leveled numbers, continue to drive fuel prices down.

Hilo and Kona fuel average have consistently dropped on a cent-by-cent basis over the past handful of months, even with brief spikes like Hilo saw this week, and Kona’s flat number observed.

Using numbers from AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, along with Gas Buddy Data, Big Island Now continues to track fuel prices on the Big Island.

On Monday, the regular fuel price average in Hilo was once again down by just one cent. Regular fuel was an average of $2.57. Mid-grade fuel was averaging $2.67, which is a one-cent increase compared to last week’s numbers and two cents over the past two weeks. Premium fuel also saw a slight increase, hopping by one cent to $2.80.

One month ago, regular fuel in Hilo was actually one cent less than current averages, whereas mid-grade and premium fuel were both two cents less than their current averages.

Average fuel prices compared to the same week in January 2015 remain lower in average across the board. At this point last year, regular fuel in Hilo cost $0.62 more at an average of $3.19. Mid-grade fuel cost an average of $0.60 more at $3.28. Premium gas cost $0.62 more on average last year at $3.42. The fuel average drops on a per-year basis have fallen from an average of about one dollar in recent weeks.

Fuel in Kona saw steady average this week. Big Island Now’s calculation of Gas Buddy data from Kailua-Kona shows that regular fuel has held onto its three-week average of $2.79. Mid-grade also held onto its last week average of $2.89 after seeing a drop of two cents in average over the previous week. Premium fuel was averaging $2.98 on Monday, not seeing any average drops in the past week after dropping by one penny the week prior.

In Honolulu, the average price of regular fuel was 12 cents lower than Hilo and was $0.34 lower than in Kona. Honolulu fuel purchasers were paying an average of $2.45 on Monday, one cent less than last week and six cents less than two weeks ago.

Diesel fuel in Hilo is averaging $4.12, two cents lower than last week’s average. Honolulu diesel buyers were paying an average of $4.28, the same as the previous week.

The national average for regular fuel on Monday was $1.82, a drop of seven cents over the past week. In addition, the national average is $0.75 cents less than Hilo’s average this week and $0.97 cents less than Kailua-Kona’s prices.

“As the Northeast digs out from the brutal blizzard Jonas, commodities markets are attempting to dig themselves out of their recent hole,” said Will Speer, a GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst. “Crude oil futures have lost 18% of value since the end of 2015 and have cleared the way for the retail gasoline price decline.  Ample supply has been attributed as the cause of prices falling at the pump.  Gasoline inventories sitting at 245 million barrels are the highest the U.S. has seen since March 1990,” he said.

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