The Army and Air Force Exchange Service gas prices for the month of July will not go into effect until Tuesday, five days later than normal, according to an AAFES spokesman.
“It’s not something we normally do,” spokesman Maj. Dave Accetta said.
“We’re just shifting the four-week period to get the price to where it will hopefully be going down.”
Gas prices are normally effective the first day of each month and are announced a few days earlier.
July’s prices should be released on Wednesday.
Using information from the Department of Energy and a four-week average of stateside gas prices, AAFES calculates prices for gas prices monthly for its customers stationed in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.
The price is good for gas sold at AAFES-run service stations and for fuel coupons that can be used at designated stations on the economy.
Stateside gas prices have been dropping since May 26, when regular gasoline peaked at $2.06 a gallon.
According to the AAA automobile club, the average cost of regular gasoline in the United States on Tuesday was $1.91 a gallon.
The price of premium was $2.11. In late June 2003, a gallon of regular gasoline was $1.49 in the States.
AAFES hopes to capitalize on the trend of decreasing costs at the pump by delaying the averaging process and its effective date for new gas prices, Accetta said.
“If AAFES used the current four-week average, gas prices in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, would go up around 10 cents a gallon,” he said.
Based on a fixed one-year contract, fuel prices in the Azores and Turkey remain unchanged.
