LIHU‘E — Gas prices on Kaua‘i are higher this year compared to last year.
Last year in April of 2020, AAA reported the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded was $1.78. Average prices in Hawai‘i were $3.22 a gallon.
Tuesday, AAA reported the national average gas price at $2.98 per gallon, with Hawai‘i’s average price at $3.83 per gallon. That’s a $1.20 more national average gas price compared to last year and Hawaii‘i’s average went up to $0.61 cents.
Yesterday, the average price for Kaua‘i is at $4.01 per gallon compared to Oahu’s average at $3.766 per gallon, yet still cheaper compared to the Island of Hawaii which sits at $4.04 per gallon.
Filling up his truck with diesel fuel at the Lihu‘e gas station on Tuesday was Arthur Rice of Kalaheo.
“To fill this truck, it’s like a $120,” Rice said. “I work out in Princeville, from Kalaheo. I can get out to Princeville, two times on one tank. It’s about $40 to $50 just to get to Princeville and back home. The stations are all kind of the same with the diesel, but I usually go to Kalaheo gas station.”
An average of five fuel-station prices for regular unleaded shows Kaua‘i prices are at about $4.00 per gallon on Tuesday. Costco’s fuel station in Lihu‘e requires a membership but is always the lowest price on the island. On Tuesday, Costco’s unleaded fuel was at $3.69 per gallon and its premium was at $3.89 per gallon.
Shell gas station in Waimea is the highest on the island with their unleaded at $4.12 per gallon, and for their ethanol-free fuel, it’s $4.69 per gallon.
The unleaded regular fuel at Texaco in Koloa was at $4.05 per gallon, $4.29 per gallon for their plus, and $4.59 per gallon for their premium fuel.
Texaco in Kapa‘a serves their unleaded at $4.05 per gallon, $4.59 per gallon for their premium fuel, and their diesel at $4.69 per gallon. The 76 fuel station in Princeville sells their unleaded at $4.09 per gallon, their premium at $4.69 per gallon, and their plus at $4.39.
Melinda Chung, an employee at the 76 fuel station in Lihu‘e was disgusted by the prices displayed lately.
“Why go up when everybody is struggling already?” said Chung. “It just doesn’t make sense, I know they have to make money but everybody having a hard time already.”
Meanwhile, Associated Press reported Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp saying he is suspending state taxes on motor fuels through Saturday to offset increasing prices after a computer hack led a key pipeline that carries fuel to much of Georgia to shut down.
The Republican said Tuesday that he wanted to provide price relief from increasing fuel prices because of the Colonial Pipeline outage.
“It will probably help level the price at the pump off for a little while,” Kemp told reporters at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Chamblee.
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Stephanie Shinno, education and business reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
