Kansas University sophomore Davina Shogbamimu, of Overland Park, prepares to fill her car up with gas at a Lawrence gas station Friday, Nov. 11, 2015.

Gasoline prices are low — about 30 percent lower than this time last year — but Lawrence residents have consistently paid slightly more at the pump, at least over the past two years, than consumers just 20 miles to the west in Topeka, according to AAA data.

A Kansas AAA official and a petroleum marketer said gas prices, and any discrepancy between how much people pay in Lawrence versus Topeka, depend mainly on one factor: the competitiveness of the market.

Jim Hanni, executive vice president of public and government affairs at AAA Allied Group, said of prices in Lawrence and Topeka, “There definitely is a difference.”

“For awhile, there was a pretty good gap between Topeka and Lawrence. Gosh, at one time, it was 15 to 20 cents,” Hanni said. “Aggressiveness, competitiveness is probably the biggest factor.”

‘Competition dictates the price’

Hanni and Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association of Kansas, explained that prices vary depending on the number of gas stations in a particular area, the size of the company that owns the station and at what volume they’re selling.

“For example, say there’s two gas stations across the street from each other,” Palace said. “If one location charges 2 cents lower than the other, where are you going to go to buy that product? They’re forced to lower that price or match that price because they don’t want to lose customers.

“Bottom line: competition dictates the price at the pump.”

According to a AAA database that lists every gas station in a city and tracks their prices, 33 gas stations are located in Lawrence. Based on the city’s latest population estimate, that equates to one gas station for slightly less than every 3,000 people.

Sixty-two gas stations are located within Topeka city limits, meaning there is one for about every 2,000 people.

More so than the number of stations, prices depend on the size of the retailer, Hanni said. Larger retailers such as Kwik Shop or grocery store gas stations tend to drive the market.

Some of the larger retailers also offer discounts, which factor into the city’s average, Hanni said. AAA tracks the prices people are paying, including discounted prices, not gas stations’ list price.

Hanni noted the Sam’s Club station in Topeka as one possible reason people are paying less there.

“If a market is dominated by a couple major retailers, when one moves, the other moves,” he said. “If one of those retailers is a really strong major retailer like a Sam’s Club, that can really drive everything else in a particular market.”

A big driver of price, Palace said, is how much gas a particular station is selling.

Stations that are located at busy locations and sell at a higher volume can afford to drop their prices, he said.

The price at which oil companies sell to distributors changes daily, Palace said. Smaller companies at low-volume locations could take three to four days to sell their supply, meaning that if prices drop, they either have to maintain their price or lose money.

“They’re at the mercy of what they paid for that product,” he said. “If the price goes down, they may eat that price because the competition is lowering.”

‘Topeka might not be normal’

In 2014, those buying regular unleaded gasoline in Topeka saved 9 cents per gallon on average than if they’d have purchased gas in Lawrence, according to AAA data.

From Jan. 1 to Nov. 11 this year, gas in Topeka was an average 11 cents cheaper than in Lawrence.

The Topeka average for 2014 was $3.11 per gallon of regular unleaded gas. In Lawrence, it was $3.20.

So far this year, regular unleaded gas in Topeka has cost an average $2.24, and in Lawrence it has cost $2.35.

Kansas City, Kan., had the near-same averages as Lawrence — meaning Lawrence may not have abnormally high prices, but Topeka abnormally low, Hanni said.

“Maybe it’s not that Lawrence is not normal, but Topeka might not be normal,” he said. “They have consistently, at least in recent months, been the lowest place among the metro areas.”

Though it changes daily, Lawrence has been ranked over the past few months as having the highest gas prices of the state’s four metro areas tracked by AAA.

“Some of it’s anecdotal, but at least in the past few months Lawrence has been the highest,” Hanni said.

Kansas City, Kan., and Wichita are the other metro areas tracked by AAA.

But the gap between Lawrence and Topeka prices has shrunk lately to within a few cents, Hanni said. On Wednesday, the average price in Lawrence for regular unleaded gas was $2.11. In Topeka, it was $2.06.

Friday evening, Lawrence consumers were paying an average of $2.09 for regular unleaded gas, and prices in Topeka had dipped below the $2.00 mark at $1.98.

In Kansas City, both in Kansas and Missouri, people were paying an average of $2.02 Friday evening, and Wichita had the same average price as Topeka, $1.98.

The state’s average at the time was $2.07, and the national average $2.19.

Though Lawrence gas purchasers are paying more than in Topeka, prices are still about 27 percent lower than they were going into last year’s holiday season.

Hanni said drivers nationwide are spending a total $257 million less per day on gasoline compared with a year ago. Palace said prices have dipped below what they were in 2008.

“Kansas drivers have benefited of lower gas prices the entire year,” Palace said. “Prices have stayed low. This is a great indication that people who sell fuel are not jacking it up just because of the holidays.”