Updated at 4:35 p.m., Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Hawaii gas price gap narrows to 16 cents
Advertiser Staff
The gap between O'ahu's average prices for retail regular gasoline and wholesale regular gasoline fell to 16 cents a gallon during the week ended Nov. 4, the state Public Utilities Commission reported yesterday.That's down from 24 cents the week before.
Lawmakers mandated the disclosure in hopes it will discourage unfair pricing after the suspension of controversial gasoline price caps in May 2006.
The average retail price before taxes rose 2 cents to $2.54 a gallon, while the average wholesale price rose 10 cents to $2.38.
The PUC's average wholesale price figure has been criticized as inaccurate and inflated because it combines different types of wholesale transactions into one price. Under the program, oil companies must file monthly and weekly reports disclosing in some cases crude oil costs, wholesale prices, gross margins and other figures.
