By Staff Reporters, GOOD DAY SACRAMENTO, KOVR CBS TV-13, Sacramento, CA
March 16, 2022
https://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/2022/03/16/mystery-gas-surcharge/
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) β Gas prices continue to skyrocket, and Sacramento and Modesto hit new all-time highs again on Wednesday.
As California gas prices continue to reach those record highs, frustration is growing from drivers.
βItβs outrageous,β said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog. βThis is what we call the golden state gougeβ
Court says rising prices are threatening our economy.
βItβs a terrible choice to have to choose between food and rent and gasoline,β Court said.
UC Berkeley Economist Severin Borenstein has spent years researching California gas prices, and he says there are still a lot of unknowns.
βThe real question is where between the refinery and the pump is all the money being made? Thereβs this extra piece, what I called the mystery gasoline surcharge, and that is adding an extra 30 cents a gallon,β Borenstein said.
Now, some lawmakers are calling for more transparency in those prices. A new bill in the legislature would require California oil refineries to report the price they pay for crude oil and the finished gasoline they sell.
So how could forcing fuel companies to publicly disclose profits help consumers?
βThey donβt disclose them in California because if they did, they know theyβd be under the scrutiny of the legislature, and the governor and the attorney general, and thatβs exactly why they need to disclose them,β Court said.
Thereβs also a new call to hold public hearings similar to the ones that looked into the 2000 energy crisis that triggered rolling blackouts.
βThey actually had the power to subpoena people and they learned a lot,β Borenstein said. βAnd I think thatβs where we really need to go.β
Supporters say public disclosure is one of the best ways to keep gas prices in check.
βSunshine is the best disinfectant, and boy does this gas industry need disinfecting,β Court said.
Borenstein says we may soon see a little relief at the pump since crude oil prices are beginning to fall.