SALT LAKE CITY — With Utah gas prices 28 cents higher than the national average, Gov. Jon Huntsman is redeploying his cheese and bakery inspectors to keep gas stations honest.
“This gas deal’s gotten everybody pretty excited, and the governor wants people to know we’re out testing so consumers get what they pay for,” said Dale Kunze, a weights and measures inspector, at a Top Stop gas station.
Kunze and other inspectors represent Huntsman’s vow to keep a “laser-like” focus on gas prices. The Department of Agriculture and Food normally has three inspectors keeping tabs on Utah’s 28,000 gas pumps.
At Huntsman’s prompting, the agency reassigned five other inspectors to the task — they would normally be at grocery stores or bakeries to verify weight scales. They also act on consumer complaints like the supposed 5-pound bag of kitty litter that weighed 4 pounds, or shorting in cheese bricks.
“I rejected a whole pallet of cheese once,” Kunze said proudly.
Utah’s gas prices remain high while the national average has dropped steadily during the past month.
On Thursday, AAA Utah said prices averaged $3.94 for a gallon of regular, behind only Alaska and Hawaii. The automobile association said the national average was $3.66 a gallon.
Association spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough said Utah’s relatively isolated Rocky Mountain market can work both ways — Utah’s prices often are lower than the rest of the nation in winter when gasoline demand eases. But for much of the summer, prices stayed well above $4 a gallon.
State authorities suspect gas stations are padding their prices.
Two weeks ago, the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association admitted to The Salt Lake Tribune that operators were “making a little more than usual” in anticipation of slimmer winter margins.
