A second month of high gasoline prices hit Southern California consumers in
the pocketbook with the cost of living rising 0.4 percent in September, only
slightly less than the 0.6 percent in August, the government reported Tuesday.
Over the last year, the Consumer Price Index for the Orange County-Los
Angeles-Riverside area rose 2.2 percent, moderate by historic standards but up
from the 1.5 percent annual rate in April.
Consumers nationwide got hit a little harder in September with a 0.6
percent increase in prices over August, but for the year, the U.S. CPI was up
2 percent.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics blamed gasoline prices, which jumped
7 percent nationwide in September on top of a 9 percent spike in August.
Californians have been particularly hard hit because of gas supply
interruptions after two refineries went down.
After hitting a record high last week, local gas prices slowly are
declining.
In Orange County, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas
was $4.559 Tuesday, down from the peak of $4.49 Oct. 8, according to the AAA
Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Last year, the price was $3.85.
Motorists filling up at a Union 76 station in Brea Monday, where the
price of regular was $4.49 a gallon, said they were feeling the pain.
Mina Gutierrez drives her pickup truck daily from her home in West Covina
to her job in Santa Ana. She said it costs her $120 to fill the tank, although
at these prices, she only buys half a tank.
"It's pretty hard," she said. "We haven't been going out a lot or
anything."
Consumers were doing a little better at the grocery store. Local food and
beverage prices edged up 0.1 percent in September, the same as August, and
have increased 1.2 percent in the last 12 months. This time last year, food
and beverage prices were rising at a 4.7 percent annual pace.
Here's how other items in the local CPI have fared over the last year:
-- Apparel: 1.3 percent
-- Education and communications: 2.8 percent
-- Housing: 2.1 percent
-- Household fuels and utilities: 2.6 percent
-- Medical care: 4.3 percent
-- Recreation: 0.1 percent
