Great Lakes Wire

Record-high gas prices continue to surpass anything motorists have encountered when fueling up their vehicles.

The average family in the state of Michigan is spending $1,063 more on gas now than they did a year ago as of Friday, according to the Gas Misery Index.

The median price for a gallon of gas in the United States is inching close to $5. The current rate of $4.76 is 56 cents higher than it was a month ago. This equates to Americans spending an average of $904 more on gas annually.

In Michigan, drivers are paying an average of $4.95 per gallon, which represents a 38-cent surge from last week.

The Gas Misery Index measures how much more (or less) the average American consumer will have to spend on gasoline on an annual basis. Officials track the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline, then modify the data using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars. The information is based on the price of gas from AAA, average fuel efficiency data from the U.S. Department of Energy, and typical miles driven from MetroMile.com.

"We're less than 25 [cents per gallon] away from a national average of $5/gal. Still holding onto the date that happens as June 17 or so," Patrick De Haan, oil and refined products analyst at GasBuddy, said on Twitter last week.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) provided new data showing that total domestic gasoline stocks recently decreased by 700,000 barrels (bbl) of crude oil to 219 million bbl, according to a recent AAA news release. At the same time, gasoline demand grew from 8.8 million barrels a day (b/d) to 8.98 million b/d as drivers filled their tanks ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. 

The current storage level is 13.5% lower than a year ago; this contributes to rising crude prices. China's lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Shanghai also added to increased demand and higher crude oil prices. AAA experts predicted that pump prices will likely remain elevated as long as demand grows and supply remains tight.

The EIA reported that when Pres. Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the average price for a gallon of gas stood at $2.33. The current national average price of $4.76 per gallon represents a 104% surge since then. The Gas Misery Index dubbed this number the Biden Misery Index because motorists are spending $1,276 more on gas annually than when Biden became president.

Drivers have seen little relief at the gas pump. This is despite the fact that Biden released 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in an effort to help lower gas prices. Biden made the announcement in March with the intent to curb rising gas prices within weeks. But, analysts are in agreement that prices will continue to climb for the foreseeable future.

Friday's national gas price average of $4.76 per gallon represents a 12.8% increase since March 31, the day of the SPR release. On that day, gas was $4.22 per gallon – 54 cents cheaper than the current price.