As declining gasoline prices near the mystical $1-a-gallon mark, motorists in Newport may have to wait. That's because whatever it costs you to fill your tank in the rest of the state, you usually pay more in Newport.

A spot check last week of 18 gasoline stations in Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth found the cost of self-service regular on Aquidneck Island averaging $1.20. That compares to a statewide average reported the same day by two reliable surveys, the state's Energy Office and the AAA of Southeastern New England auto club: $1.15.

The nickel difference gets worse at the extremes, if, for example, a motorist filled up on West Main Road in Middletown, rather than fashionable Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence. A Mobil station in Middletown was charging $1.25, while a Sunoco outlet in North Providence was serving gas up for $1.09.

It may be that being in or near Newport, rather than in or near North Providence, is worth the extra 16 cents a gallon. And the summer home of the Vanderbilts and Drexels has a history of higher prices. It even charges "admission" -- the $2 toll on the Claiborne Pell Bridge -- and on summer nights, it keeps its parking meters gobbling quarters until 11 p.m.

Still, it's hard to find a solid business reason for the price of "Newport Premium." "I don't have an explanation for it," says Janice M. McClanaghan, of the state Energy Office, who says her surveys show a higher gas tab in the Newport area.

Robert P. Murray, of the AAA auto club, whose surveys also indicate higher prices on both Aquidneck Island and in South County, puts the matter down to competition. There may not be enough stations on Aquidneck Island to keep prices in check, he says.

Murray, who didn't think the nickel-a-gallon difference was "outrageous," notes that major petroleum companies use "geographic pricing," in which markets have their own peculiarities.

Prices at Rhode Island stations lining the Massachusetts border often don't reflect the Ocean State's 29-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax, eight cents higher than the Bay State's. Instead, he says, companies may eat some of the higher tax to keep border stations at parity.

In Middletown, Wayne Farnum, a manager of a DB Mart that was charging $1.24 for Sunoco, speculates that it costs more to bring gasoline onto Aquidneck Island because of load restrictions on bridges. But just up the road, a manager of a major brand station, who didn't want to be named, had a simpler explanation. Noting that she normally gasses up in Massachusetts, where her husband works, she says, "It's an island. And they can get away with it."

Issue Date: December 13 - 19, 2001