Gasoline prices plummet in Idaho Falls

Vehicles lined up Thursday at the Good 2 Go Conoco Station at North Yellowstone and Hitt Road, where prices got as low a $2.66 a gallon for regular unleaded. (Melissa Bristol photo)

Gasoline prices in Idaho Falls dropped below $3 a gallon at some stations this week, with competition between two convenience stores at Hitt Road and Yellowstone going at it particularly hard.

"You're more likely to see an old-fashioned price war when prices are on the wane," said Dave Carlson, spokesman for the Idaho AAA office in Boise.

When Dad's opened its station on Hitt in early October, it was selling its Sinclair gas for 45 to 50 cents a gallon less, prompting the Good 2 Go Conoco station across the road to follow suit. "We thought it would kind of take root up and down the I-15 corridor, but it didn't," Carlson said.

Although wholesale rack prices were going down, a lot of dealers were engaging in profit taking, sometimes as much as 30 or 40 cents a gallon, Carlson said.

At lunchtime today, the price for regular unleaded at Dad's was $2.89. Across the road at Good 2 Go, the price was $2.94. The average price in town was $3.05, below the national average price on Friday for regular unleaded was $3.21 a gallon.

Prices are going down because supplies are ample and winter grade gasoline is cheaper to produce. "It should have been coming down well before now," Carlson said.