Gas prices have hit record highs across the country with regular unleaded averaging $4.37 a gallon and diesel up to $5.55 a gallon, according to AAA.
In Connecticut, the prices are even higher with diesel averaging $6.32 a gallon.
Drivers who spoke with NBC Connecticut said these prices are brutal.
“Terrible, awful,” said Roy Hernandez, a driver from Bloomfield.
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Hernandez doesn’t just fill up his car, but also his wife’s, his daughter’s and occasionally his granddaughter’s car. When you add it all up, it has become a huge expense.
“It affects my budget, it affects my family also. I can’t afford to buy the food that they need because I have to buy gas,” said Hernandez.
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Tim Hart, a driver from Wethersfield, said the price of fuel has changed daily life for him.
“Everything has to be factored in. This is now a major part of our budget and we can’t travel like we used to or just indiscriminately go places like restaurants or whatnot. It has to be part of life now,” said Hart.
The amount he paid for a tank of gas for his SUV has doubled from about $35 to $67 to fill the tank. And forget about driving his truck.
“My truck, I don’t even drive anymore. That’s parked on the side of the garage for the foreseeable future,” said Hart. “We’re down to one car, sharing, to try and keep it reasonable.”
Art Zieky, a driver from Newington, spent a whopping $102 to fill his Escalade. But he says he’s more concerned about how these prices will affect his summer. He has a 45-foot boat in Old Saybrook that has a 350-gallon diesel tank.
“On the Long Island Sound, the fuel is usually a couple dollars higher. So the diesel fuel on the waterway, if it's going to be $8, $9e, $10 a gallon, that's going to cost me $3,000 to fill up on the water. That's going to make a big difference as to how we decide to use the boat this summer,” said Zieky.
The president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association said he has never seen an increase in fuel prices last this long. Until the war in Ukraine is resolved, there may not be much relief in sight.
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