The average price of diesel across the nation fell 4.9 cents last week to $2.615 per gallon in an uninterrupted downward trend since mid-July, according to information from the Department of Energy.
The last report that placed the diesel price as low as $2.60 was in December of 2006. Last year at this time, consumers were paying 80 cents more than today's price, filling up at the pump at an average of $3.416 per gallon.
Meanwhile, beginning December 8, DOE will no longer report the price of low sulfur diesel as a separate data due to a diminishing number of stations selling the product, having switched to ultra low sulfur diesel to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards. DOE will continue to collect low sulfur diesel prices from the retail outlets in its sample that still sell the product and those prices will be included in the average prices of all types of diesel. Individual prices for average all types and ultra-low sulfur on-highway diesel will continue to be published.
Last week, the average price of low sulfur diesel was $2.544 per gallon while ultra low sulfur diesel was $2.624 per gallon.