It's Memorial Day and traditionally, it means a gas price increase free for all, as retailers take advantage of more drivers on the road for the first weekend of summer.
But a funny thing happened on the way home from the beach, the average price for regular in New Jersey dropped a penny a gallon between Sunday and Memorial Day.
That reflects what happened during the past week, when prices did not go up as fast as the temperature. This sets the stage to meet the prediction of the lowest summer gas prices in a decade made by federal energy experts.
"Although gas prices have risen, we'll have the lowest Memorial Day prices since 2005" said Erica Bowman, American Petroleum Institute chief economist, during a Thursday conference call.
On Friday, getaway day, the average price for regular in the state was at $2.14, up only two cents a gallon from the prior week, according to GasBuddy.com. That price bumped up to $2.15 on Sunday and then dropped to $2.14 on Memorial Day.
There were plenty of discount prices ranging from $2.02 to $2.09 across the state, spotted during a ride through Bergen County, Hudson County and through central Jersey. There are also higher prices, so careful shopping pays off.
That pleasant price fluctuation was seen at the Speedway on Route 9 in Woodbridge, which priced regular at $2.02 on Wednesday, and dropped it's price to $1.97 on Friday, which remained in place Monday. GasBuddy reported the lowest of the low prices ranged from $1.93 to $1.95 on Monday.
