Costco Wholesale had the cheapest fuel in town at $1.99 a gallon, while most service stations held prices at $2.09.
“I see a lot of relief,” said Costco gas attendant Shane Ekegren. “I think it couldn't come at a better time.”
Lara Plute, who was filling up her Chevy Tahoe at Costco, said the lower fuel prices will give her more cash to spend on other things.
Plute, who lives up Miller Creek, said it used to cost her about $90 a week to drive to work in town. This week, it cost her $40.
It only cost Charlie Jacquier $31 to fill up his pickup truck Tuesday. Six months ago, it would have cost him twice that, he said.
“I know it's going back up,” he said. That's why Jacquier is planning to fill up extra fuel tanks he has at home while gas is cheap.
Motorists can expect the prices to continue falling until Thanksgiving, giving some relief to holiday travelers, said Denice Harris, spokeswoman for the AAA MoutainWest office in Helena. After Thanksgiving, it's anyone's guess where fuel prices will go.
“Nothing is really following a formula in the past two years,” she said.
One of the main factors will be the weather and what demand it places on heating fuel. She also said that oil-producing countries have been cutting supply to stem falling oil prices. It's too early to see the effects of that, but motorists might see a rise in oil prices in subsequent months.
For now, low prices are offering motorists some relief, but there is a flip side, she said.
“Prices are falling, unfortunately, due to the economy,” she said. The weak dollar is driving down the value of other currencies, giving Americans more buying power.
The falling price also means that there's less demand for gasoline. For Ben Brouwer at the Alternative Energy Resource Organization, that's a good thing. Lower demand means that people aren't driving as much. They aren't pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and they aren't using up a nonrenewable resource.
Cheaper gasoline doesn't change that, Brouwer said. It won't encourage people to drive more. With an economy in rough shape, people will spend extra cash on basic needs and not fuel.
Cliff Bradley, co-owner of Butte-based Montana Microbial Products, said the falling prices can hurt ethanol producers like him. Because ethanol is used as an additive in gasoline, when people use less gas, they use less ethanol. But he thinks low fuel prices are a short-term situation.
“We're not making any more oil so the prices are going to go back up someday,” he said.
View Missoula-area fuel prices
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Rob wrote on Nov 12, 2008 8:59 AM:
" This energy problem is not solved yet, we're only getting a breather. Oil was significantly overvalued during the last few years so now the market is correcting itself. However, it cannot sustain the current prices for long. We need to continue to press our elected officials for solutions and investigation into speculative practices. "
Hans wrote on Nov 12, 2008 5:35 AM: