Massachusetts drivers will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to fill their gas tanks this week.
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in the commonwealth jumped to $2.72 per gallon on Tuesday, up 36 cents from the previous week.
The culprit is Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged Texas all last week, according to AAA Northeast Director of Public and Legislative Affairs Mary Maguire.
“It’s important to remember that the high prices are not caused by gasoline supply, but by the ability to move the fuel from the Gulf coast to the eastern seaboard,” she said. “As refineries come back online and the Colonial Pipeline resumes operations, those issues will eventually be resolved. We would hope and expect that these spikes are short term and prices will soon return to their traditional post-Labor Day levels.”
This week’s high is a far cry from the the price of gas a year ago. Bay State drivers paid an average of $2.16 per gallon this week in 2016, according to AAA.
