Gas dips below $3 at some area stations

WKRN (Channel 2 News) While it isn't the norm and you won't find it everywhere, gas prices have hit the sub $3 mark at some Middle Tennessee stations. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gas Monday morning was $3.38 a gallon, down from $3.43 a gallon Sunday. Jim Lott with AAA said, on average, gas is dropping five cents a gallon per day in Nashville. "The price of oil hit an all time high at $147 in July, but it was down to $81 a barrel [Monday] morning, so it's almost down 50%," he said. The average price for a gallon of unleaded in Tennessee is $3.20, two cents above the national average of $3.20 Lott said Nashville's prices pull up the state average. "I was talking to someone in Memphis and there are stations there with gas at $2.75 a gallon," he said. "If it goes below $3 a gallon, which it will, we'll be close to where we were a year ago [Monday]." Paul Kizer, owner of West Main Shell in Hendersonville, decided to drop his price below the $3 mark Monday morning for the first time in about a year. "It's been falling the last couple of weeks and I just thought [Monday] morning we're always higher than everyone else, I'm going to be the first under $3," he told News 2. Kizer said the price drop has brought in a number of customers and said shortly after he dropped the price, other stations nearby dropped their price to $3.05. One month ago the average price in Nashville was $3.76. A year ago it was $2.79 a gallon. Check the current averages, visit FuelGaugeReport.com.