If you're a driver in the Valley, paying more than $4 for a gallon of gas has become the norm. And while prices are coming down a bit, there are stations charging more than $5 a gallon here.
That's much higher than the national AAA gas price average.
On the day we checked, the national average was $3.77 a gallon, but you won't find anything close to that in the Valley. The average Phoenix-Mesa gas price was more than 70 cents higher at $4.54 a gallon on the same day.
"There was a shutdown and maintenance problems with refineries in California," says Arizona State University economics professor Dennis Hoffman.
Hoffman blames the local high prices, in part, on the Valley's reliance on California refineries.
He says getting gas here, from there, is more expensive than getting it from another nearby state.
"Tucson gets almost all of their fuel from West Texas. So, they get cheaper retail prices," Hoffman says.
At $3.65 a gallon, Tucson averages were a dollar lower than the Valley's prices on the day we checked.
But while the refinery issue is real, it seems to just be hurting us, not the oil companies. They are raking it in.
Exxon Mobile just reported record profits of $20 billion.
At $9.5 billion, Shell had its second-highest profit ever.
It might have you asking: are the high prices we see really just companies getting what they can, where they can?
And why can prices be so different from station to station?
Take the Shell station at Scottsdale and Osborn roads. Gas was $4.89 a gallon on October 31, the day we checked. Less than two miles south at a Scottsdale Road and Roosevelt Street station, gas was $4.19.
The highest price we found on the day we checked was a Chevron station at 48th Street and Broadway Road in Phoenix. Gas sold for $5.29 a gallon there and it's a whopping 75 cents more than the Valley average that day.
A manager blamed high costs and low profit margins.
If only drivers there had just looked across the street. On the next corner, a Shell station was selling gas for $4.69 a gallon.
"You know I should have went there. I didn't even notice," said one driver at the Chevron station.
It would have saved him 60 cents a gallon.
While we were there, the Chevron station lowered its price from $5.29 to $4.99 with no explanation given.
We found numerous places where you could save more than 30 cents a gallon by just driving a couple of miles away.
While you will still be paying more here than most other places, Hoffman believes there's some gas price relief in sight, and soon.
"If you have half a tank, you may want to wait a few days," he says.
AAA shows gas prices by state and city by day.
Check out the lowest prices to find gas.
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