Effective Jan. 9-15, Hovensa increased the price retailers pay for regular grade gas by eight cents to $2.94 per gallon, and premium grade by 11 cents to $3.14, marking several weeks of steady or slightly increasing prices.
The week before, Hovensa increased prices on regular by nine cents and premium by six cents, and the week prior to that, the price remained unchanged.
In previous weeks, there have been small increases, all suggesting an upward trend, despite prices oscillating up and down all year and and remaining well below their recent high of $3.38 for regular and $3.59 for premium during the week of Sept. 5. The all-time high of $3.57 and $3.68, respectively, was set the week of May 15, 2011.
Hovensa’s wholesale rate does not include local gasoline taxes of 7 cents per gallon or retailer markup.
St. Croix retailers typically charge 40 to 50 cents above the wholesale rate, while retailers on St. Thomas typically charge roughly 50 cents more than St. Croix retailers.
Prices should not increase immediately at the pump as gas stations must first sell the gas they’ve already purchased at lower prices.