Updated at 3:57 p.m., Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Oahu wholesale, retail gas price gap narrows
Advertiser Staff
The gap between average prices for retail regular gasoline and wholesale regular gasoline fell to 41 cents a gallon on O'ahu during the week ended July 15, the state Public Utilities Commission reported yesterday.That was down from a gap of 51 cents a gallon the week before. Lawmakers mandated the disclosure in hopes it will discourage unfair pricing, after the suspension of Hawai'i's controversial gasoline price caps in May 2006.
The average pretax retail price fell to $2.74 a gallon from $2.83 a gallon during the week ended July 8. At the same time, the average wholesale price rose from $2.32 a gallon to $2.33 a gallon.
The PUC's average wholesale price has been criticized as inaccurate and inflated because it combines multiple types of wholesale transactions into one price.
