California Gas Prices Could Fall Under a New Law. Will You See It At The Pump?
October 14, 2025
The Sacramento Bee
Severin Borenstein‘s, Energy Institute Faculty Director, research is used in The Sacramento Bee to analyze the potential fall in gas prices in California following a new law.
“Since 2015, Californians have been paying 20 to 30 cents per gallon more in a ‘mystery surcharge’ that appears to be unrelated to the state’s environmental restrictions and higher taxes. Severin Borenstein, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and the former chair of the California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, identified the surcharge by analyzing years of gas prices in the state and comparing them to costs in other states. Since 2015 in particular, he wrote in the Los Angeles Times, ‘the price gap has jumped higher than costs and taxes can explain.'”
Photo: sacbee.com