Kaua’i gas prices some of highest in the U.S.

The island has made headlines as being home to one the wettest spot in the world (Mt. Wai’ale’ale, has an average annual rainfall of around 400 inches), for having what’s probably the highest cost of electricity in the country (24 cents per kilowatt hour), and, now, for having some of the highest pump prices for gasoline in the country.

While a nationwide survey showed Honolulu as the urban center with the nation’s highest pump price for regular gasoline in a survey earlier this year ($1.69 per self-serve gallon), Kaua’i drivers would go miles for that kind of value.

Even with weekly several-cents-off sales, gas on Kaua’i is still around 20 cents a gallon more expensive than it is on O’ahu, although the state attorney general came up with evidence showing it doesn’t cost 20 cents a gallon to ship gasoline from O’ahu to Kaua’i.

According to information from Martin Rice of Kapa’a, an ambitious reader of The Garden Island, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline island-wide was $1.93 late last month, with some dealers raising prices as much as three cents a gallon one week, after some dealers raised prices four cents a gallon the week before, according to Rice’s surveys and research.

Rice’s tally shows that the best regular gas prices were $1.899 at the Kalaheo 76, the Koloa Chevron, and the Puhi, Hanama’ulu and Wailua Shell stations. The highest-priced regular gas was $2.139 at the Princeville Chevron, $1.999 at Kilauea Shell, and $1.969 at the Chevron and Shell stations in Kapa’a.

His figures also show that the average price of premium was $2.13 per gallon. The best premium gas prices were $2.059 at the Puhi Shell (Stan’s Super Service) and Koloa and Rice Street (Lihu’e) Chevrons. The highest-priced premium was found at Princeville Chevron ($2.329), Kukui Grove 76 ($2.249), Kilauea Shell ($2.179) and the Kapa’a Chevron and Shell ($2.159).