NORTH COUNTY - North County gas prices hit another record Tuesday - averaging $3.17 per gallon, up a whopping 17 cents since last week and 37 cents in the last three weeks, according to the Utility Consumers' Action Network survey for the North County Times.

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North County Gas Gauge

The price is 9 cents higher than in the Los Angeles area, 10 cents higher than the average California price and 26 cents higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And North County's average price is 57 cents higher than a year ago.

But it's lower than the average price in Southwest Riverside County, which hit $3.18 Tuesday.

"People are feeling it at the pocketbook," Brian T. Castelli, executive vice president of the Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, D.C., said. "It shouldn't have taken a genius to figure out the demands from China and India are going to cause an increase in prices."

Area prices set the previous record of $3.065 per gallon last Thursday. Before this month, the last time residents paid more than $3.05 at the pump occurred the week after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29 and disrupted the country's refining capacity.

Mary Jean Newcomer thought a second Tuesday before discussing a series of changes her family would make if gas prices soared past $3.17. The changes, she said, would begin with fewer trips to see friends and end with eliminating sometimes crucial purchases.

"It starts eating into the stuff we don't have to have," said the 43-year-old Escondido resident and mother of two as she pumped $3.11-per-gallon gasoline at an Escondido station. "Vacations, weekend trips, but then things that are no longer luxuries, (such as) holding back home repairs and new tires."

She was just one of several local residents who said Tuesday they were considering lifestyle changes as prices hit their second record high in a week.

But even at more than $3.17, Becky Steiner, 43, from Oceanside, wasn't ready to change her habits just yet. She said prices would have to reach $4 per gallon before she made drastic spending changes. But her family has started to have those conversations already.

"My husband has talked about trading in his Ford 250 for a smaller car," she said. "(The Ford 250) is his dream vehicle."

The high prices caused one Escondido resident to reflect on the "good old days."

"I remember when they used to have price wars in the 1950s," said Lee Haugen, 68, of Escondido. "You could get gas for 5 cents a gallon."

Energy conservationist Castelli said the nation could have learned important lessons after the gas crisis of the 1970s that would have led to better energy conservation and less oil dependency. His group was formed in 1977 as way to educate the public on energy efficiency after that oil crisis.

While President Bush offered his ideas Tuesday on how to bring prices down, Joseph Desmond, chairman of the California Energy Commission responded to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's directive to investigate why gas prices are so high.

In a letter posted on the commission Web site Tuesday, Desmond wrote, "While the immediate effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita largely dissipated during the winter months, the current increases clearly show that Californiaís consumers and businesses remain subject to high and volatile prices."

He said the commission will look at wholesale gas prices as well as diesel prices. In addition, the panel will work with Attorney General Bill Lockyer "to ensure that any indications of illegal market manipulation, price gouging or unfair business practices can be addressed promptly."

In North County, the price of gas varied Tuesday morning by as much as 37 cents. The Escondido 76 station at Escondido Boulevard and Mission Avenue continued to charge the lowest area price at $3.02 for a gallon of regular unleaded, if the customer paid with cash, while Del Mar Shell station at Interstate 5 and Del Mar Heights Road had the highest price at $3.39 per gallon, according to the survey.

Southwest Riverside prices ranged from at high of $3.59 per gallon in Lake Elsinore to a low of $3.09 per gallon in Sun City.

Contact staff writer Patrick Wright at (760) 739-6675 or pwright@nctimes.com.

On the Web

http://www.energy.ca.gov/consumerfuels/index.html

http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2006_releases/2006-04-25_desmond_briefing.html