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"I keep reading how much better the economy is doing, but it's not getting a whole lot better for me or anyone I know," said Steve Walthen of Beaufort, filling up Saturday at a Port Royal gas station. "It was kind of sneaky. Gas just started creeping up in price and now we're looking at $3 a gallon again."
The average national price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit $2.70 on Thursday, according to AAA. The price of gasoline is up 67 percent from this time last year and at its highest level since October 2008.
A survey of 10 Beaufort-area gas stations Saturday found prices between $2.59 and $2.71 for a gallon of regular gasoline. A survey of eight stations on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton on the same day found prices between $2.58 and $2.69 for a gallon of regular gasoline.
Across South Carolina, gas prices are the highest they've been in 15 months, according to AAA Carolinas.
Prices in South Carolina are fifth-lowest in the nation and still well below prices in Alaska, California and Hawaii, where motorists are already paying more than $3 per gallon.
Economic experts say gasoline prices are rising because the price of oil, like all commodities, has been driven up by increased global demand and a weakened U.S. dollar.
Wanda Frazier of Yemassee said she is not looking forward to wincing every time she fills up as she did in 2008.
"I wish I could do without it," Frazier said. "It's a necessity. Complaining about the price of gas is a lot like complaining about the weather. It is what it is and I guess we just have to roll with it. It doesn't mean I have to like it and trust me, I don't."
Skyrocketing gas prices could spell big trouble for a U.S. economy struggling to recover after a nearly two-year recession.
Every 10-cent hike in gas prices equated to an additional $14 billion a year out of consumers' pockets, Miller Tabak equity strategist Peter Boockvar wrote in a research note on Thursday.
Americans are spending $1 billion per day on gas.
