Gasoline Costs In 2011 Hit Record Average of $2,850

While natural gas prices hit rock bottom, sustained high oil prices pushed average annual gasoline costs to a record high of $2,850. http://www.consumerfed.org.  Not surprisingly, in response to these high prices, consumers have been snapping up higher mileage vehicles, and oil consumption is now back to 1995 levels.

But here is a question and answer that points to continuing massive market and policy failure.  What would that $2,850 average bill been had the consumer fueled up with natural gas during 2012? At least one-third less and possibly more.

In other words, using natural gas would have cut that $2,850 bill to about $2,000 or saved about $850 in one year.  That dollar savings equals about 2% of the pre-tax median annual income of a Pennsylvania family.

And these avoidable high gasoline costs add up. The failure to deploy aggressively natural gas fueling stations and electricity charging stations across America and the Commonwealth is costing Americans about $100 billion each year in lost fuel savings.