Gasoline prices spike 33 cents nationally, 22 cents in Georgia

By Larry Felton Johnson

According to this morning’s figures from AAA, gas prices spiked sharply over the past week.

The national average this morning is $4.392, while Georgia prices, cushioned by the state’s suspension of the gas tax, averaged $3.802. This represents a 33 cent jump in the national average, a 22 cent rise in Georgia.

EV charging rates rose one cent per kilowatt hour to an average of 41 cents nationally at commercial DC fast charging stations. Home charging is much cheaper, but varies by local market.

Cobb County price average

Cobb County gas prices averaged $3.87, just under 7 cents more than the statewide average.

National Trends

AAA wrote on its website:

The national average is $1.12 higher than it was this time last year, as oil prices surge above $100/barrel with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen. Gas prices are the highest they’ve been in four years, since late July 2022.

Over the two weeks before the recent spike began, prices had been falling incrementally, but as the Iran war dragged on, oil prices once again spiked over $100 per barrel.

AAA, citing figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA), wrote that “gasoline demand increased last week from 9.05 million b/d to 9.10 million. Total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 228.4 million barrels to 222.3 million. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.8 million barrels per day.”

Strategic Oil Reserves

One way that the U.S. has attempted to cushion the drop in oil supply brought on by the stalemate at the Strait of Hormuz has been to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The IEA reports:

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), established in December 1975, has a full storage capacity of 714 million barrels of crude oil. In December 2025, the SPR held 413 million barrels. SPR stocks increased to more than 415 million barrels in March, ahead of the coordinated release, and were about 409 million barrels as of April 10, 2026.

The SPR is separate from the more than 400 million barrels of commercial crude oil inventories in the United States.

The U.S. SPR increased to more than 415 million barrels in March, ahead of the coordinated planned release of 172 million barrels, and stood at around about 409 million barrels as of April 10, 2026.

According to the March 11 press release from the U.S. Department of Energy announcing the release of oil from the reserves, “This will take approximately 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates.”

How does AAA determine gas prices?

According to AAA:

AAA updates fuel price averages daily at www.GasPrices.AAA.com. Every day up to 130,000 stations are surveyed based on credit card swipes and direct feeds in cooperation with the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and Wright Express for unmatched statistical reliability.