CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Consumers aren’t the only ones paying more for gas in Japan and Okinawa.
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which raised the price for a gallon of unleaded gas by a dime Friday, also is paying more to fill its pumps.
The exchange service, which handles retail gasoline and diesel fuel sales on all Okinawa bases and on Army and Air Force bases in Japan, announced the price it will pay for gas in fiscal 2005 has increased an average of 35 cents per gallon.
AAFES buys its fuel from the Defense Energy Supply Center, which set its fuel prices for 2005 in Japan at $1.38 per gallon for unleaded gas and $1.31 for diesel. That’s an increase of 36 cents for unleaded and 34 cents for diesel, said Sgt. First Class Amanda Glenn, of AAFES Pacific Region Public Affairs on Okinawa.
“Customers will continue to pay $1.74 for midgrade and $1.61 for diesel in October and will see a 10-cent increase in fuel prices each month until we reach the Department of Energy’s previous four-week average in the United States,” Glenn said.
In September, AAFES announced it was changing a decades-old policy of establishing an annual price for gas in Japan and Okinawa. AAFES officials said the change brought gas prices here in line with the pricing policy at other overseas locations.
“AAFES’s objective is to offer pump prices that are consistent with the CONUS (United States) average regardless of where troops are stationed,” AAFES Commander Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost said when the new policy was announced.
