Kevin Carroll | Times Leader

Kevin Carroll | Times Leader

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<p>Customers looking to fill up on gas for the Fourth of July weekend will see average prices as low as they’ve been since 2016, according to a report from AAA Mid-American.</p>
                                 <p>Joe Soprano | Times Leader</p>

Customers looking to fill up on gas for the Fourth of July weekend will see average prices as low as they’ve been since 2016, according to a report from AAA Mid-American.

Joe Soprano | Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE — Gas prices around the area for the Fourth of July weekend are primed to be the lowest they’ve been since 2016, and local motorists are making sure to take advantage while they can.

AAA’s Mid-Atlantic region issued a release on Friday stating that pump prices in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/Hazleton area are down 45 cents on average from just this time last year.

Despite a small increase in recent weeks, the average price of gas in Wilkes-Barre is still as low as it has been in the last four years.

“I try to fill up now whenever I go for gas,” said Ashley Wilkes, a Dickson City resident who was filling up at the Turkey Hill on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard in anticipation of a beach trip with some friends. “Prices have been super low for a while now.”

AAA cites the increase in average pump prices over the last week as a product of “increasing economic stimulus measures by governments around the world.”

While the average price in Wilkes-Barre sits at $2.39 as of right now, an increase of 12 cents from last week, that $2.39 is still way down from the $2.83 average from a year ago.

An increase in infections from COVID-19 may keep that average price down for a little while as the demand for gasoline remains down across the area, even with the Fourth of July holiday coming up in a matter of days.

“Local drivers could see an uptick in prices at the pump this week as a result of an increase in demand for gasoline ahead of the holiday,” says Jana L. Tidwell, manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “AAA expects summer gas prices both locally and nationally to be some of the lowest seen since 2016.”

“I definitely want to take advantage of this price now,” said Sabrina Conyers, another customer filling up at Turkey Hill. “It’s already starting to creep back up again.”

The national average price for gas is down to $2.17, a 51 cent decrease from 2019. The average price in Pennsylvania is higher than the national average and a slight bit more than the Wilkes-Barre average, at $2.43.