Killing a little time at work, I discovered this little chart:
As you can see, the price for gas in Salt Lake, on average, has held steady at around $4.14 for the past month. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that it is steadily as opposed to rising, but this is not my point. The national average for gas has dropped steady right after it peaked around the 15th. Why, then, is our local market not responding?
The Salt Lake Tribune reported three days ago that “although Utahns are driving less, the price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the state is still near its record high.” The excuse is that we have to drive further to get to destinations because we live in a large state; but the logic does not hold.
Gas prices, like just about everything else, are dictated by supply and demand. Supply is the same and demand has decreased, now if we open our economic textbooks to page 125 you will see that this would result in lower prices. But this is simply not the case. I put forth to you that gas prices are being held at artificially high rates because retailers are taking advantage of consumers. After all, it would not be the first time.
In an effort to make a quick buck, retailers are harming the state economy, and the sad thing is it is perfectly legal. The legislature must act to protect the citizens of Utah from this type of gouging because it is in the States (and citizens) best interest to keep collusion out of our energy market. As it stands, consumers are harmed because our state has been too pro-business; a change must be made to ensure that people are paying a fair price for the gas they consume.
