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Show Gasoline Prices drop slightly in city, rise elsewhere Copyright 1982 The Iron County Record This article is the first in a three-part series examining the cost of living in Iron County. The Record publishes the series every six months to compare and examine trends county-wide. Today's story looks at Iron County gas prices. By BRUCE LEE Record Editor Gasoline prices in Cedar City generally dropped slightly during the past six months, continuing a trend that began over one year ago; however, gas prices in other areas of the county, in many cases rose slightly. In fact, a survey taken by the Record staff Dec. 6 showed that the cost of all grades of gasoline except premium dropped in Cedar City during the past six months, while in the county as a whole, the price for diesel fuel alone dropped, with premium and unleaded prices rising and regular prices remaining the same. The biggest change in prices over this period occured in the diesel fuel prices. They averaged $1.21.9 per gallon in Cedar City and $1.18.7 in the entire county in the most recent survey. They dropped an average of 3.1 cents or 2.5 percent in Cedar City and 2.5 cents or 2.1 percent in the county as a whole. The biggest increase came in the premium prices, which raised 3.4 cents or 2.5 percnet in Cedar City and 2.4 cents or 1.8 percent county-wide. Premium p prices now average 1.38.3 in Cedar City and $1.37.8 county-wide. Regular gasoline now averages $1.22.3 in Cedar City and $1.23.7 in the county as a whole; while unleaded prices are $1.28.2 in Cedar and $1.29.2 county-wide. Although these general declines are continuing in the county, they have slowed over the first half of 1982, when prices decreased an average of 7.1 pecent. At that time, not one single type of gasoline price increased. In fact, the total decrease over the past 12 months averages 9.7 cents or 7 percent i in Cedar City and in the entire county. However, if one looks back further to when a gallon of regular gasoline in Cedar City sold for an average price of $1.19, prices have risen over the past two years. Those prices then experienced a quick increase over the next six months, before slowly declining over the past year and a half. Overall, regular gasoline prices county-wide have risen 2.7 cents or 2.2 percent over the past two years, and unleaded prices have gone up 2.8 cents, also 2.8 percent since December 1980. Perhaps the most important revelation of the gas survey this time is that one can save money if he is willing to shop around. Prices varied widely in all instances. see GAS on page A3 0 .P Ufjp ( ero Mil Gft8 cont. from page Al For example, the highest price for regular gasoline in Cedar City was $1.41.9 in the survey, while the lowest price was $1.14.8, a difference of 27.1 cents per gallon, or a savings of $5.42 on a 20-gallon fillup. The same holds true in the other categories. For unleaded gas, the highest price was $1.45.9, and the lowest was $1.18.9, a difference of 26 cents. For premium, the high was $1.51.9 and the low was $1.25.9, a difference of 26 cents. And for diesel fuel, the high was $1.29.9 and the low was $1.04.8, a difference of 25.1 cents per gallon. However, gasoline dealers and service station owners also said that sometimes extra service, convenient location and other considerations may make up for some or all of that difference. |