Gas prices have gone up more than 30 cents in the last week, according to AAA.
The average price in Reno was reported at $5.79 on Monday.
It was $5.44 this time last week and $5.08 just a month ago.
So what's driving up prices to rise so fast, specifically in Washoe County?
An economics professor at UNR says it has a lot to do with Reno being pretty much completely tied to California when it comes to gas.
“We simply are an isolated and concentrated market. There's a small number of companies that control refineries here and as a result, when something happens at a refinery, when one of those companies has a production problem it has a big effect,” Elliot Parker.
Professor Parker says three refineries have shut down for planned maintenance, as they call it.
He says another refinery which serves us in Northern Nevada has had a significant cut back in production the last couple weeks because of power problems.
The good news is - these problems are not expected to last.
The professor expects things to settle down in another couple weeks.
He notes however, it's hard to forecast gasoline trends, factors like what's going on in the Russia-Ukraine war – or with hurricane season could all change prices again.
