Gas Prices Jump Above $3 In Wake Of Harvey, Will Likely Continue To Climb
WHITE PLAINS (CBSNewYork) – The ripple effects from Hurricane Harvey are getting stronger at local gas stations.
Prices are now popping above $3.00 a gallon and will likely keep climbing in the weeks ahead.
So, as CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported, drivers may want to slow down and take a closer look before pulling in to fill up.
In Westchester County on Wednesday morning, gas prices varied by 50 cents a gallon from $2.63 a gallon for regular unleaded at the CITGO station on Tarrytown Road in Greenburgh to $3.13 at the Mobil on Marbledale Road in Tuckahoe as prices spike in the wake of Harvey.
"It's just ridiculous – how quickly it just rose like that," said driver Helen Paladino, of Eastchester.
"Everything is related to the Hurricane Harvey," said Gentin Gijnaj, who owns an independent gas station in White Plains.
While Hurricane Irma churns toward Florida with potentially devastating results, Harvey's lasting effects are still hitting New Yorkers in the wallet.
"Customers are actually complaining a little bit about the prices just going up, but it's not us who are raising the prices. It's actually the wholesalers," Gijnaj said.
The president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores told Conybeare that wholesale prices are very volatile right now, because the Colonial Pipeline that brings gas from the Gulf Coast in Texas to New York was knocked offline by the hurricane.
Multiple oil refineries were also affected by the storm, and Irma could do even more damage to the supply chain.
Conybeare went out with inspectors from the Westchester Department of Consumer Protection as they investigated any possible price gouging.
"We want all gas stations across the county to behave responsibly, and we don't want to see any consumers being taken advantage of because of Harvey," inspector Mark Fang said.
If your local station got a wholesale delivery before Harvey, prices could still be well under $3.00, but likely not for long.
AAA says the average price of a gallon of regular gas nationwide is currently $2.66.