$7.59 a gallon? This Big Sur spot may be highest in nation as California gas prices soar
$7.59 a gallon for regular gas? That was the cost Friday at the Gorda Springs Resort, just 22 miles north of the border between Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties.
The astronomically high prices at the Big Sur area gas station caught national attention this week — with some claiming it was among the most expensive gas in the United States — but Central Coast drivers haven’t been strangers to unusually high prices at the pump in recent weeks.
According to Gasbuddy.com, San Luis Obispo County had the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation on Friday with an average price of $4.609 per gallon. County gas prices were ranked just below those in Napa ($4.657), Santa Rosa ($4.684) and San Francisco ($4.696).
Notably, that included Cambria, just 35 miles south of the headline-making Gorda station, where regular gas cost $5.19 per gallon as of Friday.
California gas prices continue to rise, analysts say
The high local prices are continuing a statewide trend of rising prices at the pump, fuel analysts say.
In California, which already consistently has the nation’s most expensive gas, the average cost per gallon was $4.56 as of Friday, up $1.48 from a year ago, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
For reference, the nation’s average price per gallon of gas was $3.36 as of Thursday, according to AAA. This time last year, AAA added, no states had gas that expensive, and only two had prices above $3 per gallon.
Now there are none with with an average cost of gas below $3, the AAA data shows.
Meanwhile, the demand for gas Wednesday was at its highest level since Aug. 25, according to GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan.
Motorists are spending $488 million more per day on gas than they were this time last year, De Haan said. Prices are at their highest levels since 2014, he said.
Why does Gorda have such high gas prices?
Prices may be rising across the country, but $7.59 per gallon still tops the chart — so what gives?
The tiny community of Gorda — which the family-owned-and-operated resort bills on its website as “a town unto itself, with lodging, dining, gas, a general store/gift shop, deli/espresso bar” — has had the dubious distinction before of having the most expensive gas in the country.
That’s in part because it’s no easy feat getting the fuel up there, according to John Maragos, one of the station’s clerks who serves as a manager.
He recalls that, during his tenure since the mid-1990s, a couple of fuel-delivery tanker trucks have gone over the side and into a ravine below. “It took about a month to get one of them out. Fortunately, the drivers weren’t hurt.”
Built into that jaw-dropping $7.59-a-gallon cost is what Gorda has to pay for the gas, including the delivery truck’s fuel to get there and back from Santa Maria or Paso Robles.
Electricity for the town of Gorda and its gas pumps comes from a diesel-powered generator that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The diesel fuel also has to be delivered. “That’s a huge expense,” Maragos said.
The station’s operation costs also have to be amortized out over the people who buy gas, the same as at any other station. “When COVID hit, we were inundated with people,” he said. Now, it’s slowed way down. “It’s more sparse now. We could get 10 gas customers one day, 40 the next.”
Maragos said a lot of places along Highway 1 to Big Sur “aren’t serving gas any more. They stopped a lot time ago. Lucia stopped about 1995. They said it’s not worth what you have to charge” or the flak dished out by people horrified by the prices.
But when your car is running on fumes, and the next station is 12 miles south at Ragged Point. …
Guess what? According to an attendant there Friday, the cost per gallon for regular gas is $6. Heading north? The Chevron at Ripplewood is charging $5.88 per gallon.
Where is the cheapest gas in SLO County?
Though SLO County has the dubious honor of being one of the most expensive regions for gas prices in the state, there are a few places where you can expect to pay a little less for a gallon.
According to GasBuddy, the cheapest gas in San Luis Obispo County was at Costco in San Luis Obispo, which was charging $4.23 per gallon as of Friday.
For those without a Costco membership, the next cheapest was in Nipomo, where the Vons gas station was charging $4.26 for a gallon of regular.
Meanwhile five stations in SLO County were charging customers more than $5 per gallon as of Friday, according to GasBuddy.
Those included Chevron in Templeton and Pismo Beach ($5.09), Shell in Pismo Beach ($5.09) and the two most expensive stations: Shell and Chevron in Cambria, where a gallon will cost you a whopping $5.19, according to GasBuddy.
McClatchy reporter Mike Stunson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 2:00 PM.
