The National average retail price of diesel rose 3.7 cents to $3.331 during the week ended Monday, Jan. 3, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. The average price is more than 37 cents higher than the level at the end of September when prices began their recent upswing. Diesel prices are 53.4 cents higher than they were during the same week last year and are at their highest level since late October 2008, when prices were plunging from their all-time high that summer.
Prices rose in all regions. The largest jump was in Gulf Coast states, where the average price soared 5.3 cents. Even so, prices in the Gulf Coast region remain the lowest in the nation on average. The next-largest increase was 4.7 cents in the Lower Atlantic. The Rocky Mountain and New England regions saw the smallest increases over the previous week at 2.1 states saw the smallest increase at 2.1 cents. As usual, the nation’s most expensive diesel was in California at $3.507.
Complete diesel price information for the week ended Jan. 3 is available on the EIA’s website.
