Diesel prices lowest in months

NEW YORK – Diesel prices continue to drop in small increments during the summer slowdown.

Prices in the U.S. fell for the third week in a row and are the lowest they’ve been since late February – but still overwhelmingly higher than this time last year.

Weekly figures from the Department of Energy show the average retail price of on-highway diesel is $3.94 a gallon, down 6.2 cents from last week and down more than 11 cents over the past three weeks. But it’s still 85.6 cents higher than it was a year ago.

In Canada, retail prices hovered at around $1.22 a liter this past week – about 10 cents more than the start of January and about a 25 cents a liter more than August 2010.

As usual, prices remain highest in the eastern parts of the Atlantic ($1.33 in St. Johns) and northern Quebec and lowest in southern Alberta (1.07 in Edmonton).