Labor Day Weekend Gives Oil Companies Another Dip Into Arizona Drivers' Wallets Because of 'Hot Fuel'

Consumer Group Offers "Hot Fuel Ripoff" Stickers to Counter Exxon Mobil Ploy at Arizona Gas Stations

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 30. 2007; "Hot fuel" will be taking a last summer bite from Arizona drivers heading out for Labor Day in continued triple-digit heat, said OilWatchdog.org. When gasoline reaches 100 degrees and above, which is likely in Arizona during its long heat wave, drivers lose about $1.50 worth of energy on a 20-gallon fill-up -- even at current lower prices.

"Drivers' losses boost the bottom line of oil companies," said Judy Dugan, research director of OilWatchdog.org and its nonprofit, nonpartisan sponsor, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "Families escaping the heat with in a loaded minivan can easily need two fill-ups on a holiday weekend trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Over a year, hot fuel can cost $150 or more for desert drivers."

Most drivers aren't aware of their loss, though it causes odd variations in fuel mileage during hot weather. In California and Arizona, ExxonMobil has begun putting bland stickers on its pumps about fuel energy being "affected by temperature" as a tactic to fend off class action lawsuits against hot fuel sales. (For more information, see http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=5821 )

"The lawsuits are backed by long-haul truckers whose bottom lines are seriously affected by hot fuel," said Dugan. "But they are also supported by individual consumers once they know that they are also being ripped off at the pump for up to a dime a gallon."

OilWatchdog and FTCR are not participants in the lawsuits.

The yearly national loss to drivers is estimated at $2.3 billion. Federal data estimates the loss to drivers in Arizona at $115 million a year, which excludes the loss to truckers who used diesel. The figure also does not account for greater mileage driven in summer vacation season.

OilWatchdog is countering ExxonMobil by offering consumers in Arizona and California "Hot Fuel Ripoff Warning" stickers, available through http://www.oilwatchdog.org/.

The stickers note that U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has introduced a "Fair Fuel" bill, S.1997, which would require that retailers sell gasoline adjusted for temperature. That means drives would get slightly larger gallons when the fuel is above 60 degrees. (see explanation and text of the bill at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/pr/?postId=8296)

At a National Conference on Weights and Measures meeting in Chicago this week, technical experts said a switch to temperature-measuring fuel dispensers would be relatively simple, because they are already in wide use in Canada and U.S. companies make the equipment.

When gasoline is sold at the wholesale level, it is adjusted for temperature variations from the national standard of 60 degrees. Gasoline comes from the refinery well above 60 degrees, and in hotter weather can gain more heat during above-ground storage and transportation to the station. Retailers also get extra fuel to compensate for temperature expansion. But consumers can buy fuel only by a measured gallon, no matter what its energy content. At the higher end of fuel temperatures, 105 degrees, the energy loss is nearly a dime a gallon. (The energy loss is 1% for every 15 degrees)

The U.S. military requires that the fuel it buys be compensated for temperature. But individuals lack the clout to make such a demand.

Fuel-temperature data collected from 2002-2004 by the National Institute for Standards and Technology found a national year-round average temperature of 64.7 degrees. The fastest-growing U.S. regions, the South and West, average substantially higher.

"Oil companies are like a grocer with his thumb on the scale, out of sight of the shopper," said Dugan. "The Senate's Fair Fuel bill would lift that cheating thumb, if legislators can resist the oil lobby's efforts to kill the measure."