Roger Platt puts nearly 200 miles on his pickup truck every day. He owns a small pest control business and if he doesn't drive, he doesn't work. But these days, it's costing more and more to get around town.
"I'll go down the street in the morning and it's one price. I'll come back on the street in the evening, and it's another," said Platt, owner of Centurion Pest Control.
Gas prices in San Diego have gone up $.16 in one week to an average of $4.24 on Monday. Platt says he can handle the increase for a while, but higher prices take a bigger bite out of his budget.
"I think everybody hopes that it is going to be up for a certain amount of time and then it is going to drop back," Platt said "But who knows?"
Gas price analyst Charles Langley says prices should settle down and maybe even drop, but he doesn't see prices dropping below $4 any time soon.
"I think gas above $4 a gallon is the new normal," Langley said.
In California, two refineries have reported problems. The Tesoro's Golden Eagle refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Exxon/Mobil refinery in Los Angeles both produce about eight percent of the state's oil supply. When a combined 16 percent fuel supply is threatened, wholesale prices start rising and gas stations pay more for their next delivery.
What does Roger Platt do to make up for rising gas prices? When he gets home his truck stays in the driveway, "We do have an electric car which we drive as much as we possibly can."
