I think our local gas stations stage their own revolts about every six days and have also been investigated for gouging before by KY State and were found guilty. In BG, there is one family that owns 90% of the gas stations in the entire county and the rest are owned by East Indian families who emigrated here so there`s definitely a monopoly. The next county over gas is ALWAYS a minimum of ten cents a gal cheaper than us for the last nine years......Anyway, about once a week around here the price will spike up 30 cents over night and then settle back down for the rest of the week dropping a nickel or so a day. I`m sure they manipulate the prices.
Another thing I`ve noticed is the quality of the gasoline seems to be suffering a lot more so this season. Lots of water in ours and we have had a really mild winter so far. All my cars have intermittent misfires unless I get the highest octane.