Every day at the pump, the price of unleaded gasoline seems to creep higher.  Today in Central Illinois, we’re paying $4.15 per gallon.  Of course, those of us in the Illinois Corn office know that we could be paying even more.

Ten percent of that $4.15 gallon of gas is ethanol.  According to the information reported by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) last week, without the ten percent ethanol, we would have been paying 8.6 cents more.

Here’s the nitty gritty:

                             Wholesale gasoline                             Wholesale ethanol

                             (before taxes and profits)                   (before taxes and profits)

5/2/2011              $3.608                                     $2.615

5/3/2011              $3.579                                     $2.620

5/4/2011              $3.543                                     $2.620

5/5/2011              $3.260                                     $2.570

5/6/2011              $3.270                                     $2.520

Average                $3.452                                     $2.589

Difference             $0.863

In layman’s terms, you are saving just shy of $1 every time you buy 10 gallons of gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol.  And if you happen to live near a blender pump and were buying E20 or E30 last week, you’re saving even more.

Want to share this important consumer choice lesson with your friends?  Download this printable graphic to take to the coffee shop or email to your friends.