As the holidays approach, Sacramento-area residents are seeing the lowest gas prices of 2012.
In its weekly report released today, national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com put the average price of gas in the area at $3.37 a gallon, down 6 cents from last week. GasBuddy data is based on a survey of 720 stations in the area.
The current at-the-pump price is nearly 25 cents per gallon lower than one month ago and 9 cents cheaper than one year ago.
Nationally, GasBuddy said, the average price of gas is $3.25 a gallon - 18 cents lower than last month but about a penny higher than a year ago.
"The drop in gas prices certainly has been well noted. In some instances, people have been calling this a gas price crash," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "Dub it whatever you like, but I'll remind motorists (that ) gasoline prices in some areas still could set all-time record highs for Christmas Day."
Despite recent declines, GasBuddy said 2012 will go down as the year with the highest-ever average cost for gasoline in the United States, topping the 2011 year-long average of $3.51 per gallon.
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