Old pumps prevent some stations from raising gas prices

While most stores in the Big Sandy Valley of eastern Kentucky have raised prices to $3.29 a gallon for regular unleaded, Butcher’s Trading Post in Paintsville is charging only $2.99. That’s as high as the pumps will go.

“At this point, we probably won’t reorder gas when we run out,” said Cheryl Butcher, working at the store Thursday. “It’s either not sell any gas at all, or sell it for what we are and lose money.”

The surge in gas prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s wrath on oil refineries and pipelines along the Gulf Coast caught some retailers by surprise. Now, stores that don’t have digital pumps are waiting on overworked repairmen to arrive and make the needed updates.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture, which regulates gas pumps in the state, sent a letter to retailers Wednesday warning that those affected have only two options: Sell fuel at less than $3 or shut down until the pumps are modified.

Only those stations with mechanical pumps, which have rolling numbers like a car odometer, are affected. Jim Hill, owner of Perry Oil Co. in Hazard, estimated that about 10 percent of service stations in the Appalachian region still use pumps of that type.

Hill said stations with mechanical pumps have been impacted each time gasoline prices reached a new dollar mark, beginning in the 1970s when the price went beyond $1 a gallon for the first time.

Colley’s Garage in Jeremiah resolved the problem Thursday by setting pumps at half price — $1.64 a gallon — and posting signs letting customers know they will have to pay double the sale amount shown on the pump.

“It’s working,” said Peyton Carver, an employee at the garage. “It’s just got a bit of math behind it.”

However, Bill Clary, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, said so-called “half-pricing” is illegal. He said the letter sent to retailers warned that any stores using half-pricing will have to stop until their pumps are modified.

Unfortunately most stations will not be able to update their pumps quickly enough, said Ann Belcher, spokeswoman for AAA Blue Grass/Kentucky in Lexington.

“Right now, there’s a two-week waiting period for the kits,” she said. “It can be longer.”

Belcher advised motorists to be aware of the situation and to not be caught off guard at service stations that show half prices on their pumps.

“Right now we’re concerned about fuel shortages and outages, as are drivers, with this crisis that we’re going through,” she said. “Hopefully, these pumps will be able to open back up to the public as soon as possible.”

Hill said no one could have predicted the 50 cents to 70 cents rise in prices in a single day.

“I just hope we don’t have to fix them again to handle $4 a gallon,” he said.