ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: There are few signs U.S. consumers have changed their driving habits, but a new survey finds the average price of gasoline nationwide has rocketed to a new high. It's a dramatic increase from this time last year, and things could get worse before they get better.</s>MITCHELL MOSS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: The real winners are the homeowners who signed oil contracts for 95 cents a gallon last May. Those are the people who are thriving.</s>HALL: Long Island homeowner Roy Barnard says his decision to join a cooperative has saved him a lot of money since the going rate is about $2 a gallon.</s>ROY BARNARD, HOMEOWNER: I paid 99 cents a gallon. So there's a savings of almost 70 cents per gallon by belonging to that organization.</s>HALL: But some homeowners are finding themselves in double jeopardy, especially in the Northeast, which claims the largest number of homes heated by oil.</s>MOSS: The real losers are on Long Island, which is a highly dispersed suburban area, which relies on very high-cost energy and has the unusual situation where there's no mass transit system.</s>HALL: Higher oil prices also mean steeper costs for petroleum- based products.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've basically seen in the last couple of months at least a 10 percent hike in the cost of plastic bags.</s>HALL: The transportation industry is also feeling the effects. Truck drivers protested the skyrocketing costs of diesel fuel by converging on the nation's capital last week. Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell has since introduced a bill to help truckers. The measure calls for suspending the federal diesel tax of 24 cents a gallon. The bill is getting support from both Democratic and Republican Senate leaders. But until prices per barrel drop, fuel prices may continue to hit consumers in the wallet with their upward trend.</s>HALL: The Lundberg survey derives its numbers from 10,000 gas stations nationwide.
Gas Prices Soar to Unprecedented Rates