LIHUE — Chris Mock moved to Kauai three months ago from the Boston area, where he said gas was about 40 to 50 cents per gallon cheaper.
“Yeah, it sucks,” he said of Kauai prices.
“I’m used to driving trucks like this, you know?” he added, pointing to his old, white Ford Bronco, which he spends about $90 per week driving to and from Koloa for work.
While the Kapaa man enjoys and is used to driving bigger vehicles, Mock said he is “absolutely” considering buying something with better gas mileage.
“It just doesn’t work out here,” he said of his gas-guzzler. “Maybe (I’ll get) a little Subaru or something. Definitely something to better the gas prices. I’m surprised there aren’t more mopeds around, stuff like that.”
Mock, 34, said companies always find a way to justify rising prices, be it shipping costs or global demand.
“You can question it all you want, it’s not going to change,” he said.
Hawaii drivers continue to top off their tanks at the highest cost nationwide, with an average $4.24 per gallon, followed by California ($4), Alaska ($3.82) and New York ($3.77).
In a survey by the American Automobile Association (AAA) of 120,000 gas stations, the average price of gasoline this week nationwide is $3.55.
Motorists in Kauai are paying $1 a gallon more, at least, with prices as high as $4.95 a gallon on the North Shore.
A look at the variance in prices between the Hawaiian Islands shows Kauai’s prices are by far the highest in the state. Prices on other islands are: Honolulu, $3.25 to $4.24; Hilo, $3.85 to $4.13 and Maui, $4.24 to $4.29. Kauai prices generally start at $4.69 and keep climbing.
Drivers in every state, except Ohio and Pennsylvania, are paying higher gas prices than they were paying a month ago.
AAA spokeswoman Elaine Beno said there are some basic reasons for Kauai’s gas high prices.
“The island has few gas stations, so there’s little price competition, along with the obvious geographic location, which makes just about everything more expensive there,” she said. “The trade off in high costs is Kauai’s beauty and paradise atmosphere.”
Beauty or not, the fuel expense isn’t justified, say some residents.
Valerie Weiss of Wailua Homesteads is frustrated by the disparity in prices between other Hawaiian Islands and Kauai.
Weiss said she is starting to make minor adjustments to her driving habits based on prices at the gas pump. Instead of asking a friend or neighbor to spend money on gas to drive her to the mechanics for car repairs, she throws her bike in the trunk and rides it home.
“Is Kauai’s demand that much higher than the other main islands or are we experiencing collusion to manipulate prices?” she said. “Possibly it’s just a coincidence that each company (all getting their refined gas from the same Oahu source) has determined Kauai can and should pay substantially more for our gasoline than Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island.”
Others are changing their driving habits, too.
Kekaha resident Liz Thompson, 70, said the rising gas prices have encouraged her and her husband to purchase more fuel efficient cars over time and ride The Kauai Bus more often, when they need to make trips into Lihue.
It’s a choice that, Thompson said, helps the retired couple save money and make more environmentally conscious choices, at a time when they both live on fixed incomes.
“I remember being shocked when I moved from Texas to Colorado because gasoline was like 25 cents or 39 cents a gallon and that was horrible,” Thompson said.
When she and her husband choose to drive their car, Thompson said the couple tries to get as many errands done in and around their destination to save on future fuel costs.
“When we looked at it, if you come into Lihue, it costs me $20 to go in and out every time,” Thompson said. “It’s something that you think about, so we try to do everything at once.”
Kahala Knopp said she and her husband are luckier than most people because their commute is a short one.
They work five minutes from where they live in Kapaa, so they aren’t required to fill up their gas tank as often as some. Still, Knopp said she notices the price for gas when she fills up.
“We’re actually not paying that much considering we don’t drive a lot,” she said. “But still, it’s expensive.”
They bought a diesel truck 10 years ago when diesel gas was cheaper than regular gas. Today, it costs about $100 to fill up. But Knopp said she expects gas prices on Hawaii to be more expensive than other places. Hawaii doesn’t refine gas, so it has to be shipped across the ocean. She’d be in favor of the country producing more of its own oil instead of buying it from foreign markets. Gas prices in Alaska mirror those in Hawaii, she said, which is surprising since the state produces the product. More domestic product could change that.
“I’d be nice if they’d go lower but I don’t know how that’s going to happen, not with the fact that we’re not making oil domestically. So, I’m for us producing it here and opening up the pipeline with Canada,” she said. “I’m for us doing more of it domestically and becoming more independent rather than buying it.”
Still, she said gas prices could be worse on Hawaii, and they’re not near high enough for the couple to trade their truck in for a hybrid, which can start at $40,000.
“I’d probably never buy a hybrid. They’re just too expensive,” she said. Sure, they save you money (in the long run) but they’re so expensive, who can afford it?”
For a few, paying more at the pump isn’t a concern.
“I got the very first Prius C on the island,” said Liz Haun. “It’s a hybrid which gets about 60 miles per gallon. It has a 9-gallon gas tank and when I fill up, it’s only about seven gallons. Completely full, the car can go about 500 miles before needing a refill.
“But the best thing about a hybrid is that when it’s fully charged, you can sit in air conditioned comfort and have no emissions,” she said.
Andy Mankao of Pearl City on Oahu said the government should do something about gas prices, but he believes legislators won’t take on oil companies.
“The problem here is the people vote for the same people of their background. Vote for the person who will do the best job for Hawaii.
“In Hawaii, you cannot afford to travel to work. Most people are average and have a set income. With the prices we get paid this is ridiculous,” he said. “They are choking us.”
As for what people can do to lower the amount they spend on fuel, Mock is all for promoting carpooling on the island.
“The stuff like that that you can do yourself though, it’s not an immediate return on what you’re doing, you know?” he said. “You just got to get everyone on board and hope for the best.”
• Staff writers Chris D’Angelo, Darin Moriki, Dennis Fujimoto, Tom LaVenture and Tom Hasslinger contributed to this report.
