The Sconi

With rising gas prices showing few signs of abating any time soon, an industry expert now estimates that Americans have collectively spent upwards of a billion dollars more on gas this year compared to last year.

"Americans today will have collectively spent over half a billion dollars more on gasoline compared to a year ago. $550+ million more to be exact," GasBuddy oil and refined products analyst Patrick De Haan recently tweeted.

Across the country, gas prices continue to climb, setting new records in recent days as the national average price per gallon spiked to $4.43, up another 15 cents from the previous seven days. On average, the latest Gasoline Misery Index shows that Americans will spend $735 more annually on gasoline now than they did at this time last year. In the state of Wisconsin, the average is $4.20 per gallon and the misery number sits at $799.

The Gasoline Misery Index on gasmiseryindex.com tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer will have to spend on gasoline on an annualized basis.

Even with the Biden administration moving to release a record amount of crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a desperate effort to lower gas prices at the pump, American Automobile Association (AAA) reports as of May 13 the national average price stood at $4.43 per gallon, an 8.6% jump from the month before when the average was $4.08 per gallon. On March 31, the day of Biden's SPR release, gas cost $4.22 per gallon, 21 cents cheaper than today.

Tabulated using gas price data from AAA, average fuel efficiency (mpg) data from the U.S. Department of Energy and average miles driven from MetroMile.com, the index tracks the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline and adjusts using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars. The index further tracks how much more (or less) the average American consumer is paying for gasoline on an annualized basis.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports the average price per gallon of gasoline has spiked 90 percent, from $2.33 per gallon to a price of $4.43. With Americans now spending an average of $1,103 more per year on gas, gasolinemiseryindex.com has taken to referring to the number as the Biden Misery Index.

Soon after taking office, The Hill reports Biden signed an executive order outlawing all new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, including cancelling an increasing number of oil leases. More recently, the White House has moved to cancelled oil and gas lease sales in Alaska's Cook Inlet and in the Gulf of Mexico.

On May 4, Wisconsin Sen. Ronald Johnson (R-WI) was among 53 Senate Republicans voting in favor of Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) motion to require the immediate development of a new five-year federal offshore oil and gas leasing plan.

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined with 43 other democrats in rejecting the plan, which supporters argued was intended to ease energy prices across the country and mandate lease sales for oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.