Motorists Sue Oil Titans, Retailers Over 'Hot Fuel' Losses
Gas expands as temperatures rise giving motorists get less energy from a gallon.
July 5, 2007— -- Think gas is expensive? It's even more expensive on hot summer days. Gasoline expands as temperatures rise. That means motorists get less energy from a gallon of so-called "hot fuel" than from a cold one.
When Brent Donaldson, a restaurant owner in Kansas City, Mo., discovered that fact earlier this year, he joined hundreds of consumers in more than a dozen states who are suing oil companies and gas retailers, alleging that they have been overcharged by billions of dollars.
"The consumer is repeatedly being ripped off and not given a fair deal," Donaldson says. He says he spends $60 a week filling his Acura.
The lawsuits allege that higher temperatures of gasoline cost consumers between 3 and 9 cents a gallon extra at the pump.
The litigation seeks to force the oil industry to install gas pumps that have temperature-compensation equipment.
Truck drivers and motorists in seven states, including California, Delaware and New Jersey, filed the first of more than 20 lawsuits late last year. Since then, lawsuits have been filed in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.
Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, predicts that the lawsuits will fail because they allege fraud, which he says has not occurred. He also disputed the billion-dollar estimates of costs to consumers.
"There is so much misinformation put out by people doing guesses," he says. "They have no idea what the temperature at the nozzle is. We need facts, not hype."
The unfolding legal drama centers on century-old oil industry gas pricing practices and competing scientific and mathematical testimony from experts on both sides. The price of gas has been based since the 1920s on a formula that measures a gallon of gas when it is 60 degrees, according to court papers filed by motorists.
According to industry and government standards, a gallon of gas at 60 degrees measures 231 cubic inches. Consumers buy 231 cubic inches of gas per gallon, regardless of its temperature, so when gas expands in the heat, the amount of energy put out per gallon declines.
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