Jump at the pump, again

SIDNEY, Ohio (WDTN) - Gas prices jumped as much as 40 cents in some places overnight and it looks like the pain at the pump isn't going to let up anytime soon.

"I pulled in and didn't even look.  I don't even want to know anymore,' says Sharon McGill.

Gas is $3.85 at the Marathon, just off I-75 in Sidney.

McGill says the skyrocketing gas price is one of the reasons she's moving.

"I'm actually trying to move to where I work.  I live in Sidney and I work in Troy and it's costing me at these prices, $160 a month just in commuting in gas," explains McGill.

The US Energy Information Administration credits an increase in crude oil prices for the rise, as well as some unexpected refinery outages during January, both in the United States and in Europe.

McGill says she's making cutbacks to offset that increases.

"For my New Years' Resolution, I pack my lunch everyday.  I don't go out to eat anymore for lunch.  I used to not plan ahead and go out to eat or whatever for lunch and I don't do that at all anymore. I pack my lunch everyday, that saves $7 a day," comments McGill.

She's not the only one who is feeling the pinch at the pump.

Sue Brown makes an hour and a half commute to work everyday.

"I work in Cincinnati so that's the only place I could find a job.  So I have to drive back and forth to Cincinnati everyday.  Just have to do it.  That's what I have to do to work," says Brown.

That's why she is always on the lookout for the cheapest prices.

She found gas for $3.60 at a Sunoco on Fair Road in Sidney.

"It's very difficult to be working in Cincinnati and have to pay all the prices, so I check all the way down 75 and find the best price," explains Brown.

The government expects prices to peak around $3.73 in May because of the seasonal increase in demand, as well as the switch-over from winter-grade gasoline to the more costly summer-grade.