AAA Carolinas reports Pump Prices Up

AAA Carolinas reports that pump prices continue to climb across the country and in North and South Carolina, explains Tiffany Wright, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas. “Gas prices remain on the rise in the Carolinas and this is a little unusual for this time of year. Typically, when we talk about the winter driving season, that’s when prices are lower because demand is down. It is unusual that demand has been up and it goes all the way back to when we were dealing with the hurricanes and the flooding in October and November and how we had to recover in 2017. We haven’t fully recovered. Then we had an unseasonably warm October and November, at least the beginning of November throughout the Carolinas. So, we still had folks going to the beach and taking those close to home road trips. So, demand stayed up when usually it is low. So, in fact in October, we saw the highest demand for gas in the Carolinas than we had seen in four years. So, demand is up and that means folks are traveling despite having some cold temperatures.” At $2.46, North Carolina’s average is up two cents from last week and 27 cents from this time last year. South Carolina’s average is also up two cents with a 29-cent increase from this time last year. Despite the rise in prices, South Carolina has claimed the cheapest gas in the country for the first time since August 2017.