Gas prices jump again - A gallon of premium has already hit $2 at some stations

heraldnet.com By Eric Fetters Herald Writer

Gas prices are shooting up in Lake Stevens as fast as they are in the rest of the country. A gallon of premium costs $1.99 9/10 at this Texaco station.

Brian Elliot was blunt about rising fuel prices after filling up his pickup Friday at a Monroe gas station.

"I think it's out-and-out gouging," he said after paying $1.70 a gallon for diesel fuel.

Marysville resident Colleen Weston said she's also had enough. On Thursday morning, she bypassed her local station, thinking she'd fill up on the way home from work.

When she stopped by that evening nine hours later, the price had jumped 5 cents a gallon.

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"It's pretty incredible," Weston said.

To limit the bite of higher gas prices on their household budget, she and her husband have adjusted their shifts in order to carpool to their jobs in south Everett.

Snohomish and Island counties have joined the growing list of places across the nation where paying $2 or more for a gallon of gasoline is no longer just a bad dream. On Friday, a Texaco station near Lake Stevens and a Chevron station near Maltby were among those charging $2-- more precisely, $1.99 9/10 -- for a gallon of premium unleaded.

The average price per gallon for regular unleaded reached $1.73 in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett market Friday morning, according to an AAA survey. That was 7 cents above the national average.

More shocking is how fast prices rose to that level. Just a month ago, the local average was $1.41 a gallon. In early January, many stations around Everett were selling fuel for $1.30 a gallon or less.

Compare that to prices Friday, when finding any local station charging below $1.60 for a gallon of regular unleaded was difficult. An Arco station on Evergreen Way at Pecks Drive in Everett was charging just below $1.62 for a gallon, but most stations were at $1.66 to $1.70 a gallon.

Outside Everett and Lynnwood, many stations posted prices above that range, with a growing number charging $1.80 or more for regular unleaded.

All this is happening at a time of year when fuel prices usually bottom out before rising as summer, the year's busiest driving season, approaches.

Randy Schatz, owner of Randy's Better 76 in Mill Creek, said his regular customers are grumbling but still buying.

"They don't like it, but they understand," he said.

Prices at his station rose 3 cents a gallon Friday to $1.78. But as an independent owner competing against corporate-owned stations, Schatz said that he's not getting rich off the increases.

"In just the past week, it's been a dime increase per gallon in the wholesale price I pay," he said.

The higher retail prices also have increased the transaction surcharges Schatz pays whenever a customer buys gas with a credit card.

At corporate-owned service stations, which are now the majority in most urban areas, local managers usually have little control over prices. They normally charge what their owners, the big oil companies, tell them to charge.

The oil companies deny price-gouging accusations leveled this week by AAA and some members of Congress, saying market factors are to blame. Those include Venezuela's reduced oil production in the wake of nationwide strikes there, worry about the impact of a possible war with Iraq and relatively low reserve supplies held by the United States.

Just as crude oil prices showed signs of easing after reaching a two-year high on Thursday, an accident caused an explosion and fire at an oil terminal in New York. That sent crude oil up again, ending the day at more than $35 a barrel.

Schatz said those conditions explain why prices are rising in general, but he agrees with many of his customers that there's no good reason the prices are going up so high. Meanwhile, he joked that he is ordering more numeral 2s for the sign outside his station in preparation for prices of $2 and up.

Back at the 76 station in Monroe, Elliot, who is self-employed, said there's not much he can do about the rising prices or how much he drives.

"I still have to go to work," he said with a shrug.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.