The next time a Gulf Coast hurricane cuts down the flow of fuel to North Carolina, our governor might have new powers to decide who gets precious gas -- and who doesn’t.

The Senate approved and sent to the House today a bill authorizing the governor to ration fuel supplies in times of disasters and other emergencies when markets are disrupted.

The measure would expand on the state’s power to combat gasoline price gouging in similar situations. Last September, Hurricane Ike closed some refineries and pinched the pipeline flow of gasoline to North Carolina, causing prolonged shortages in several cities. Several retailers were fined for gouging after they sold regular gas for as much as $5.49 a gallon.

Gov. Bev Perdue has not decided whether she wants new power to ration fuel supplies.

"Gov. Perdue wants to make sure North Carolina citizens can get the fuel they need during a time of crisis," said Chrissy Pearson, her press secretary. "She is reviewing this legislation as it continues through the legislative process."

Two-dollar gas was an unpleasant novelty three years ago as Easter weekend approached in March 2005. This year, it’s no big deal. Let’s head for the beach!

Triangle drivers are pumping regular for about $2.02 a gallon this week as they tank up for the Easter and Passover holidays. That’s $1.28 less than we paid this time last year, in early April 2008. ... [MORE]

Hold this memory while you can: gas for less than $2 a gallon.

It was that cheap for a little over two months in the Triangle, between Nov. 21 and March 27.

Today it has risen to $2.038. Will we ever see it below $2 again?

$2 gas was an unheard-of horror back in March 2005, when we first hit the mark. Local gas stations were unprepared for this milestone bummer, and some of them were short on "2" numerals needed for the big signs that advertise prices. (They used upside-down 5's.)

A 15-gallon tankful today costs $30.57, about half what we paid for a fill-up last September ($60.87) when the local average pump price peaked at $4.058, an all-time record.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration tried yesterday to explain the recent price spurt:

After lingering for weeks in the $1.90 range, pump prices rose above $2 in the past week because (1) a stock-market spurt prompted a quick little speculative increase in crude oil prices, (2) the low pump prices had produced a little boost in demand for gas, even amid the general economic gloom, (3) gas refiners recently cut their output a tad, to reduce the surplus supply, and (4) they recently increased their profit margins on each gallon, which had dropped to record-slim levels back in mid-winter when pump prices were bottoming out at $1.52 a gallon. Got that?

But nobody is predicting $3 gas again this summer, and there's still a chance we could dip below $2 again.

After all, we're still in a recession. We're driving less because fewer of us have jobs to drive to. The petroleum surplus is still huge -- U.S. crude oil stocks haven't been this big since 1993. After the EIA report was released yesterday, light sweet crude fell by more than $1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $48.35 a barrel.

One other change since March 2005: Nowadays, a lot of the stations around town post their prices on electronic LED signs. No more upside-down 5's.

Here's a Newtonian corollary: What went down is going back up.

The Triangle average pump price for regular rose by 4 cents overnight to $1.680 today [update: $1.721 Thursday], after apparently bottoming out Jan. 2 at $1.572.

If the cheap ride is over, it was fun while it lasted.

A 15-gallon fill-up costs $25.20 in the Triangle today. That's less than half what we paid four months ago — $60.81, when a gallon sold for an excruciating $4.054.

You can still find regular around the Triangle today for less than $1.60, according to raleighgasprices.com.

But maybe not for much longer. Oil prices have risen more than 40 percent since their lowest point, $33 a barrel on Dec. 19. OPEC production cuts and Mideast tensions are getting some of the blame for the price increases.

Maybe it hasn't happened yet, but it has to happen sometime. Gas prices will stop falling.

The WilcoHess place up the street was selling regular for $1.509 Wednesday morning, and I didn't stop to fill up.  When I did stop there Wednesday evening, the price had bounced back up to $1.599.

Meanwhile, after an uninterrupted breathtaking plunge for nearly three solid months, the Triangle average price has risen just a little. The lowest point was $1.616 on Tuesday, then it crept up to $1.628 Wednesday and $1.636 Thursday. [And Friday: $1.642.]

Gas prices have dropped this fall to the lowest levels in more than four years, but North Carolina’s gas and diesel tax will remain at the highest level allowed by law — at least through next June.

If fuel prices stay relatively low for the next few months, the tax rate could make a substantial drop when it is adjusted again next July 1. . . .

Sherman, set the Way-Back for March 27, 2004.

Golly, Mister Peabody, why do we want to send our time machine back so far?

That’s how far back you have to go to find gas as cheap as it is today. Triangle drivers are paying an average $1.687 for a gallon of regular, according to the Oil Price Information Service, the same price we paid more than 4 years and 8 months ago.

Also, way back in late March 2004 . . .

Self-service regular is selling for an average $1.97 a gallon today in the Triangle, and a few places are posting prices below $1.80. (And at one place in Durham today, $1.55!)

It's the first time since March 2005 that we've paid less than $2.

This is good news, but it means different things to different people.

Carolyn Jones, a semi-retired school cafeteria worker, says she can afford now to go back to the grocery store for bread -- to go along with the butter she got a few days earlier ("Relief at the pump is bittersweet").

Albaro Hernandez, who works in a Subway sandwich shop, says he can afford to park his 4-cylinder Ford Focus and start driving around again in his 6-cylinder Chevy Blazer.

Faster than falling mercury, the Triangle average price for regular gas has dropped to $2.037 today. Looks as if it'll dip below $2 in the next few days. A lot of places are selling well below $2 already.

How do you like that?

In Wake County you can find gas now for $1.79 in Zebulon, $1.86 or better in East Raleigh, $1.89 or better in a lot of places. In Durham, for $1.87 or better.

I'm reporting on $2 gas today, and I'd like to hear from you.

Is this low price helping your family, or your business, through a hard time? Will it improve your Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday plans?

Will you stick with frugal habits you learned during times of $3 and $4 gas — parking that gas-hog SUV, less driving, slower driving, bus riding?  Or are you ready to put the hammer down?

Call me today at 829-4527 or e-mail me (bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com). Be sure to leave your name and your daytime phone number. 

The giddy plunge continues. Triangle drivers were paying way more than state and national average prices for gas a month ago, but since then we've been catching up -- or catching down.

The local average price for self-service regular has fallen $1.41 in the past month to $2.250. That puts us just a nickel north of the national price, which has fallen $1 during the same month. The last time we paid this little was in February 2007.

And that's just the average. It's pretty easy to find much lower prices.

I was content yesterday to pay $2.099 on I-85 in Alamance County (I invested in 10 gallons only), but that's nothing to brag about. The volunteer price spotters at raleighgasprices.com report that there are plenty of places in Wake County where you can pump to your heart's content for under $2.

Under $2? I don't know how much longer the price will continue this astonishing fall. But if it keeps this pace, the Triangle average price for regular will fall below $2 in the next week.

The last time we saw that was in March 2005.