California First Quarter 2010 Gas Use Declines 1.0%, Diesel Declines 0.01%

SACRAMENTO, CA - July 1, 2010: Betty T. Yee, Chairwoman of the Board of Equalization (BOE), released California's gasoline and diesel consumption figures for March and the first quarter of 2010. Gasoline consumption declined 0.5 percent in March and declined 1.0 percent in the first quarter.Diesel consumption declined 2.2 percent in March and declined 0.01 percent, essentially unchanged, in the first quarter compared to the same month and quarter in 2009.

"The first quarter gas and diesel numbers both show some evidence of an improving economy," said Chairwoman Yee. "The diesel number was especially encouraging. This is the first quarter since the third quarter of 2007 not to show a significant decline in diesel consumption."

In the first quarter of 2010, Californians used 37.4 million gallons of gasoline less than the first quarter 2009, which is a decline of 1.0 percent.

In March 2010, gasoline consumption declined 0.5 percent when Californians used 1.273 billion gallons of gasoline compared to 1.279 billion gallons the same month in 2009. The average California gasoline price at the pump in March was $3.10 per gallon compared to $2.24 in March 2009, a 38.4 percent increase.

Gasoline sold in March generated approximately $329 million in sales tax during that month, an estimated $118 million more than generated last year. March sales and use tax revenues from gasoline would have been about $36 million less had the state portion of the sales and use tax rate not increased by one percent on April 1, 2009.

Diesel sold in California during March 2010 totaled 234.9 million gallons compared to the March 2009 total of 240.2 million gallons, which is a decrease of 2.2 percent. California diesel prices were $3.06 per gallon in March 2010 an increase of 43.0 percent compared to March 2009 when the average diesel price was $2.14 per gallon.

Diesel consumption in California was essentially unchanged in the first quarter of 2010 when Californians used a total of 619.2 million gallons of diesel.

In March, both the diesel and gas consumption numbers would have been higher were it not for the impacts of unusually large refunds related to audits. The BOE is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors. The figures reported monthly are net consumption that includes BOE audit assessments, refunds, amended and late tax returns, and State Controller's Office refunds. Figures for April 2010 are scheduled to be available at the end of July 2010. All monthly, quarterly, and annual figures can be viewed at: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm