Gas is $10 a gallon at the Big Sur station. The owner explains why his prices won’t go up
The owner of Gorda by the Sea, the only gas station a few miles in either direction from this remote, picturesque town in Big Sur, charges $9.99 a gallon for gas because, well, that’s as high as the digital numbers on the gas pumps allow.
“The software only goes for $10,” said Leo Flores, owner of a gas station and mini market. “I know, sometimes someone wants to make a good story for the sake of it, but we have to tell you why.”
Like the only gas station at least 12 miles along Highway 1, the service station often prompts drivers to gasp or grab their wallets when they see the $9.99 a gallon price tag, but Flores insists he’s not trying to gouge his customers. In fact, he’s worried that if fuel prices rise too much, it could put him out of business.
“People think he makes money, but I don’t,” he said in an interview with The Times.
Motorists across the country have been struggling since fuel prices began to rise last month following the start of the US-Israeli-Iraq war, which has blocked the flow of oil to key oil-producing countries. Flores is an example of how rising fuel prices have a negative impact on the entire economy.
This particular gas station has been in the news before because of its high prices, but Flores, who has owned the station for 30 years, said there is a simple reason why the costs are so high.
“This place we use generators,” he said. “The generators use five to six liters of fuel every hour.”
He said that it is not only the gas station that works with generators. The small beach community around the gas station – a small market, cafe, hotel and nearby cabins – is owned by Flores and uses generators because there is no access to an external power plant.
“When I explain to people why, they are happy to pay what I ask,” said Flores. “It’s too expensive for me to make my own electricity.”
According to AAA, the national average cost of a gallon of regular gas is $4.09 and, in California it is $5.86. In Los Angeles County it is even higher at about $6 per gallon. At gas stations around Gorda by the Sea, the average cost also remains at $6, according to AAA.
Flores said that he has considered using solar panels to generate electricity, but the initial costs are high. To raise prices even higher at the gas station, he would have to buy new pumps, an investment he is not sure he can afford now.
High prices are not his only concern. The whole house could only work if Flores’ regular gas delivery came through Highway 1 every two weeks.
When the road was closed for three years due to landslides, starting in 2023, he said, he struggled to get gas to run his generators and survived with only 10% to 20% of the business he usually sees, he said, adding that his business did not take off until he reopened in January.
“It’s a big deal,” he said. “If the highway is closed on both sides, I’m stuck.”
Flores complained that no one paid attention to his struggle when the highway 1 was closed but it is another matter when the price of gas increases.
“Why is it that when the highway opens and I raise the price, everyone points at me as if I’m a bad person?”
