Most States Save at Pump During Q1

GAITHERSBURG, Md. – During the first quarter of 2014, 48 states saw lower gas prices than they did during the same time period in 2013 according to GasBuddy, which reviewed price changes at 120,000 gas stations across the United States. Only Colorado and Wyoming paid higher average prices at 8.6 cents and 14 cents more per gallon, respectively.

Virginia saw the largest savings during the quarter, paying an average of 23.7 cents per gallon less than one year ago, followed by Georgia (23.5 cents less), Mississippi (23.5 cents less), South Carolina (23.2 cents less) and Alabama (23.1 cents less).

Montana saw the lowest average gas price during Q1 at $3.09 per gallon, while Hawaii saw the highest at $4.06 per gallon. Billings, Mont., was the individual city with the lowest average at $3.06 per gallon while Honolulu had the highest average at $3.97 per gallon.

California cities saw high average prices, and drivers in that state have seen the longest streak of rising gas prices at 66 consecutive days, followed by Washington (55 days), Virginia (54 days), West Virginia (53 days) and New York (44 days).

Price increases are likely to continue for several more weeks. "Motorists face rising prices every spring for varying reasons, but most notably because of refinery maintenance that slows production of gasoline and stations being required to sell cleaner burning blends of gasoline that cost them more," stated GasBuddy Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. "We believe that gas prices nationally will average $3.52/gallon for the April through September time frame, which would be the lowest we've seen in a few years."

However, drivers will likely see some price relief in June, GasBuddy concluded.