Severin Borenstein on Gas Prices Increasing in California

Here’s Why California Gas Prices Are So High

November 2021

California News Times

Energy Institute Faculty Director, Severin Borenstein comments in the California News Times on how economy demand can affect gas price increases in the Bay Area.

“Severin Borenstein, energy economist at the Hearth School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, said these have fluctuated and are now Said that it costs about 35 cents per gallon. ‘It costs a little more to make California’s cleaner burned gasoline, probably less than $ 0.10 per gallon, but it depends on the refinery and location…California has great benefits, but it is spread all over the world. California has decided to become a leader in its commitment to climate change. I think it’s worth the cost. California imposes a ‘mysterious petrol surcharge’ on residents. Since 2015, we have called it ‘Mystery Gasoline Extra Charge’. This is calculated by finding the difference between California’s gas prices and the average prices in other parts of California after deducting the state’s higher taxes and environmental charges, and the cost of cleaning. Burn gasoline…Recently, we’ve incurred an extra charge of about $ 0.30 per gallon’ said Borenstein, who writes extensively about the mysterious extra charge on the Haas Energy Institute blog. ‘There are few unbranded gas stations in the Bay Area, which seems to be the most effective downward pressure on prices, perhaps because Bay Area residents are reluctant to buy cheap petrol. I’ve never been. Borenstein wrote in a blog that a mystery was accused after an explosion at the Exxon Mobile refinery in Torrance, California in February 2015. Prices skyrocketed. But it didn’t go down. ‘For the rest of the year, the mysterious extra charge was about 48 cents per gallon,’ he wrote. ‘To make matters worse, it continued at unprecedented levels in 2016 (29 cents) and 2017 (27 cents) long after the Torrance refinery returned to full production.'”

Read More on High Gas Prices in Trade Barriers in KTVU and the SF Gate

Photo: californianewstimes.com