Tuesday marks the first day of July, and with the new month comes higher prices at the gas pump for California drivers.
A state sales tax hike goes into effect on July 1, and combined with “stricter rules on refineries to encourage them to create lower-carbon fuels,” the jump could be significant, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The combined increases could boost gas prices by nearly 70 cents, although industry experts and state officials disagree on how steep the price increase may be,” the Times explains.
For instance, University of California, Davis researcher Colin Murphy said a 65-cent increase per gallon is “an extremely unlikely worst-case scenario” and “not a credible projection of the program’s impacts under realistic conditions,” the Porterville Recorder reports.
That 65-cent figure was put forward by a University of Pennsylvania study looking at the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program last year.
Patrick de Haan of Gasbuddy.com., however, thinks consumers may not notice much of a difference, as oil prices have fallen amid easing tensions in the Middle East.
“That is likely to push gas prices lower, even amidst rising taxes and the Low Carbon Fuel Standards change,” he said. “I know a lot of folks out there, there have been rumors that gas prices are going to spike significantly on July 1. That’s not going to happen. Gasoline prices could continue to ease here over the next week.”
As things currently stand, gas prices in California have been trending down, according to AAA.
The current average is $4.594, down from $4.803 a month ago and $4.794 a year ago.
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