canyonwalker: My old '98 M3 convertible (cars)
canyonwalker ([personal profile] canyonwalker) wrote2023-04-05 01:38 pm

The Price of Gas in Phoenix

Phoenix Getaway Travelog #12

I forgot to mention in my previous blogs about our weekend trip to Phoenix that I was surprised by how high gas prices were. They were even higher than California... at least vs. where I live.

When I bought gas for our rental car on Monday the cheapest Costco station was $4.399 (Costco shows prices in their app, making them easy to check and compare) and the cheapest station of any other kind I saw was $4.499. Back here in Silicon Valley yesterday gas at the nearby Costco was $4.249 and the cheapest non-Costco station in my part of town was $4.399.

This was surprising because California is so routinely maligned for having gas prices higher than the rest of the country. Indeed, gas is a lot cheaper in many other states. Why is Arizona now one of the more expensive ones? A quick search on recent news articles indicates that Arizona now requires different formulations of gas at different times of year in different parts of the state. Example coverage: ABC 15 article/video (28 Mar 2023). Right now Arizona is in a changeover period, and there's a demand spike due to Spring Break travel.