NORTHWEST INDIANA - Gas prices are down and according to Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.com, you can thank "good old fashioned competition."
"Well wholesale gas prices have plunged but you can throw in a good dose of competition. A lot of stations were undercutting each other left and right," DeHaan says. "In fact in Schererville prices are down to $2.13 but, all good things come to an end some stations are now selling gasoline under their cost and that usually triggers a price cycle and that's what we're starting to see across Indiana today."
Average retail gasoline prices in Northwest Indiana have fallen almost 10 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.33/g Sunday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 314 gas outlets in Northwest Indiana. This compares with the national average that has fallen 3.5 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.46/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.
"Gary, Northwest Indiana prices are starting to go back up to $2.59," DeHaan says. "I'm seeing it in Valparaiso, Hobart, Crown Point, Portage, a lot of places. But wouldn't you know it, just a few days ago in South Haven, Michigan, not too far away, prices got all the way down to $2.05 a gallon. Like I said, prices are starting to go back up."
Including the change in gas prices in Northwest Indiana during the past week, prices Sunday were just over 27 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are just over 49 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased just above 6 cents per gallon during the last month and stands just over 28 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.
According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on December 4th in Northwest Indiana have ranged widely over the last five years:
$2.05/g in 2016, $1.82/g in 2015, $2.71/g in 2014, $3.11/g in 2013 and $3.35/g in 2012.
