Levittown Gas Prices Rise As Labor Day Approaches

Gas prices in the Levittown are are climbing heading into the Labor Day weekend.

The five-county Philadelphia area reached a gas price average of $4.27 a gallon after rising 8 cents overnight and 15 cents since last week, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Statewide, Pennsylvania’s average price stood at $4.25 per gallon, while the national average reached $4.09.

GasBuddy data showed that stations in the Levittown area saw prices reach as high as $4.39 per gallon and with the lowest $3.97 as of Monday night.

Nationwide, the median price for diesel reached $5.45 per gallon this week.

Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said last week that prices at the pump could reach their highest Labor Day levels since 2012.

The surge in cost comes as global crude oil markets react to the Iran war.

“Oil prices continue their roller coaster ride following a decline last week, renewed military strikes in the Middle East are supporting oil prices,” Giovanni Staunovo, a commodities analyst at UBS, said “All eyes will be if we head again to a de-escalation phase or not.”

Current prices remain below the peak levels recorded in the summer of 2022, when local prices topped $5 a gallon.

Bucks County’s record high, when adjusted for inflation, has stood since the 2008 recession. Accounting for inflation, those peak prices would equal more than $6 per gallon today.

The U.S. Department of Energy provided the following strategies to save fuel:

• Minimize idling your car by turning off your engine when your vehicle is parked for more than 10 seconds. Idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on engine size and air conditioner use, adding up to three cents of wasted fuel a minute. In the winter, most manufacturers recommend driving off gently after about 30 seconds. The engine will warm up faster being driven, which will allow the heat to turn on sooner, decrease your fuel costs, and reduce emissions.

• Drive sensibly and avoid aggressive driving, such as speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking. Aggressive driving  can lower your highway gas mileage by 15 percent to 30 percent and your city mileage by 10 percent to 40 percent.

• Avoid driving at high speeds. Above 50 mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. For every 5 mph above 50 mph, it’s like paying an additional $0.22 per gallon of gasoline. 

• Reduce drag by placing items inside the car or trunk rather than on roof racks, which can decrease your fuel economy by up to 8 percent in city driving and up to 25 percent at Interstate speeds. 

• Avoid keeping heavy items in your car; an extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could increase your gas costs by up to $.03 cents per gallon.

• Combine errands. Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start, can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.

• Check into telecommuting, carpooling, public transit and active transportation like bicycling or walking to save on fuel and car maintenance costs. Many urban areas provide carpool lanes that are usually less congested, which means you will get to work and home faster and more refreshed.