(This article was published on June 30, 2013)
By City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County decreased today for the seventh consecutive day, dropping 1 cent to $4.069.
The average price is 7.2 cents less than one week ago but 2.9 cents more than one month ago and 30.7 cents higher than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.
The dropping prices follow a 15-day streak of rising prices.
The average price in Orange County also decreased for the seventh consecutive day, dropping 1.1 cents to $4.051. It is 7.1 cents less than one week ago but 4.7 cents more than one month ago and 33.3 cents higher than one year ago.
The average price fell on 16 consecutive days immediately before the decreases began.
The dropping pump prices follow a large decrease in wholesale gasoline prices, according to Jeffrey Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The decreases in pump prices are expected to end on Monday, when a 3.5- cent per gallon increase in the gasoline excise tax is due to go into effect. The California Board of Equalization is required to adjust the excise tax rate by March 1 each year to ensure revenue neutrality under a law that went into effect in 2010.
Gasoline sales tax revenues fund local government programs, while the state excise tax on gasoline funds highway and mass transit projects throughout California.
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