More than a week after North Carolina lawmakers voted to suspend the gas tax, the state now has the lowest average gas prices in the entire country. Several people WRAL spoke to on Sunday are still not satisfied. “They’re still high. I still have a lot of money left in my paycheck,” said gas station customer Hayden Epperson. As of Sunday, a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Raleigh costs an average of $3.62, nearly 35 cents cheaper than a week ago. A gallon of diesel in Raleigh costs $5.62, about 28 cents cheaper than a week ago. However, it wasn’t lost on Epperson how low prices were a year ago. On October 18, 2025, gasoline cost $2.78 and diesel cost $3.52. “It’s ridiculous. It takes half a tank to get to work. Half a tank to get back. And it’s not good,” Epperson said. High costs don’t just affect commuters who travel more than 30 minutes to get to work. Lisa Penny, wife of a farmer who grows produce in Benson, said high diesel prices are capping a difficult year for agriculture. “Having to buy diesel in bulk has been very, very exhausting and has made it difficult for us as farmers to keep all of our product prices low,” Penny said. While the gas tax suspension became law on Friday, October 9, it did not begin until days later. Many faced the same prices for days after it was signed. Oil analyst Patrick De Haan said there could be a few reasons for that. “It’s difficult to lower prices immediately when stations are already paying a much higher price for the fuel they have in their tanks,” De Haan said. “It takes a few days for stations to sell their existing taxed inventory before they can purchase the tax-free fuel. That’s why it took them about a week to realize the tax suspension.” >> In Depth: Answering your questions about North Carolina’s gas tax suspension, De Haan said a common misunderstanding about the gas tax he’s noticed is that gas should be exactly 41 cents lower since the tax suspension was enacted, but he cautioned that the tax suspension is only a small factor in the price people pay for gas. “The tax is suspended, but that does not prevent the price of oil from suddenly rising,” De Haan said. “The price of oil moves every day and in the last week it has gone up quite noticeably. This is one of the rare times in my career where beyond a few days, it is impossible to predict because these are not normal ebbs and flows of the market right now. De Haan added that the ongoing war with Iran makes prices extremely volatile, and they are likely to spike again even with the tax out of the picture. “These are geopolitical tensions and events that can happen at any time. moment,” De Haan added. “It depends on what is happening between the United States, Iran, Ukraine and Russia.” The gas tax will be back in effect on December 1.
