TOWN OF HOUNSFIELD, New York (WWNY) – Diesel prices are hitting record highs nationwide, prompting one North Country business to rethink its spending.
Nationwide, diesel prices are at record highs, up 60% from the price this time last year. According to AAA, the national average is $6.23 a gallon. At this time last year, the average was $3.69.
Local business feels the impact
At Derrigo Service Center in the town of Hounsfield, tow truck driver and mechanic Domenic Derrigo said about five or six trucks go out daily. The fuel tank on site was just about empty on Monday.
“We fuel these trucks up usually daily or every other day, so it goes by fast,” Derrigo said. “It’s an all-time high at the pump for sure. I don’t know how that relates to the barrel costs or if there’s anything they can do about it, if it’s just corporate greed or why we’re paying so much more, but I’d like to know that.”
Business watches prices closely before fueling up
Derrigo said the company takes time looking closely at prices at the pump. They consider around $4 a gallon to be stable for diesel, more than $2 less than the prices on Monday.
“We don’t get the tank filled when prices are volatile and all over the place. We just fill up at the pump to see where things are going to go before we get our next fill-up,” Derrigo said.
The company doesn’t tack on a fuel surcharge for customers and hopes that practice doesn’t have to change.
“Where we’re going to be putting the most miles on the truck is when the snow starts flying, and hopefully prices come down a little by then,” Derrigo said.
Overseas tensions
President Donald Trump has claimed that the rise in the price of global diesel fuel “is mostly caused by the Russian/Ukraine war” and not the conflict with Iran.
However, restricted shipments caused by the slowdown of oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz are also a factor, according to AAA’s Valerie Puma.
“The uncertainty with the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, just uncertainty politically speaking. The tensions overseas and especially with crude oil, we are seeing those numbers ticking upward in recent weeks,” Puma said.
An important Saudi oil pipeline is expected to be out of service for weeks following an attack last week. The pipeline offered a way for Saudi Arabia to shift exports to the Red Sea and avoid the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks have stifled the movement of oil tankers.
Watertown-area record set in 2022
The record for average diesel price in the Watertown area is $6.49, set in May 2022.
Monday’s average sits at $6.16 a gallon. That does not consider inflation.
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