By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Franklin County, MA) Monday’s gas prices averaged $4.60 per gallon in Massachusetts, according to a AAA news release. That’s up 21 cents from a week ago, 53 cents higher than a month ago, and up a $1.69 from a year ago when gas averaged $2.91.
Massachusetts is 12 cents higher than the national average, $4.48. Mary Maguire, AAA Northeast Director of Public and Government Affairs, attributes the rising costs to the “high cost of crude oil, the key ingredient in gasoline.” Maguire also said that “the annual seasonal demand dip for gasoline that we typically see between spring break and Memorial Day – which would normally help lower prices – is having no effect this year.”
AAA also reports that Rhode Island’s average gas price as of Monday is $4.57 and Connecticut is $4.53, both of which are lower than Massachusetts’s average fuel price.