Gas prices in Florida are the highest they’ve been in almost a decade. The average price at the pump in the Sunshine State is $3.47 a gallon.
It cost about $52 dollars to fill up a 15 gallon tank in Florida on Sunday, the most since 2014.
AAA’s Mark Jenkins says the supply of crude oil is simply not keeping up with demand, causing prices to continue to rise throughout the US.
“A lot of oil companies lost a lot of money before the pandemic because there was a glut in crude out in the market. And you know, the US was producing oil at record numbers, but oil companies were losing money because the prices were so low. And so a lot of them were I think leveling off during the pandemic, and now there's not as much investment for these companies to get back in.”
Jenkins doesn’t expect prices to drop until the end of 2022 or early 2023. He says that means gas prices will continue to be high throughout the busy Spring Break, Easter and summer vacation seasons.
“This is a time of year when we typically see some of our lowest gas prices of the year. And they're already up at some of the highest prices that we've seen in eight years. Which means that we could see gas prices get even worse before they get better, because we're still moving into the spring and the summer months when demand will get even higher because people will be traveling even more.”
Jenkins recommends driving less, paying with cash, and using rewards programs to save. And he says families planning on taking the great American road trip, might want to budget less for hotels and eating out, and more for gas.
