The governor said Wednesday he has ordered the state's Department of Agriculture and Food and the Department of Commerce to more actively monitor and analyze Utah's gasoline prices.

"We're asking these state agencies to monitor the situation within their enforcement powers to make sure Utahns are not being taken advantage of," Huntsman said in announcing the new get-tough initiative.

The rest of the country is seeing some relief from gas prices that for much of the summer have topped $4 a gallon but retailers and refiners here have not passed along a commensurate decrease to Utahns, Huntsman said. The average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was at $4.10 per gallon Wednesday, behind only Hawaii at $4.45 per gallon and Alaska at $4.64. Utah's average price was a whopping 31 cents higher than the national average.

Irate consumers have peppered Huntsman's office and other state agencies with complaints, in some cases suggesting a gas-price conspiracy by station owners and refinery operators.

To address those concerns, Huntsman said the Department of Food and Agriculture will step up its monitoring of gas sales through its weights and measures program to ensure consumers are getting the right amount of gasoline from station pumps.

And the state's Department of Commerce will heighten its review of any complaints directed at deceptive sales practices.

Lisa Roskelley, a spokeswoman for Huntsman, conceded that the state departments have always monitored pumps and investigated consumer complaints.

So what's different now?

"Right now, there's a laser-like focus on this topic," Roskelley observed. "If there are any suspicious activities or nefarious intent, the information will be forwarded to the Attorney General's office."

Rankled consumers such as Mike Nash in Layton is glad Huntsman is looking into the issue, as he did a couple of years ago when the state investigated high prices - in a probe that ultimately fizzled, even though the Department of Commerce concluded that some station owners were grabbing profits at the expense of consumers.

"It makes me mad to see we're paying so much above the national average. I'm not saying we have to be the lowest, but I expect us to be near the national average, not near the top."

In fact, for most of 2008, Utah's unleaded gasoline prices were among the lowest in the country. In March, Utah had the 11th-lowest price nationwide.

Rolayne Fairclough, a spokeswoman for AAA Utah, said she has studied about a decade's worth of gasoline-price data for Utah and noticed that the state's average tends to be higher than the national figure in summer, but among the nation's lowest in the winter.

Huntsman's timing for announcing his new initiative may be on the money, so to speak.

Gasoline prices in Utah have been on a downward trend, although excruciatingly slowly, for the past month, even as prices nationwide have plunged in the wake of declining crude oil costs.

The summer driving season soon will be winding down, and Utahns, if the price trends of the past are any indication, should see gasoline fall below the national average within a few months.

John Hill, state director of the Utah Petroleum Marketers and Retailers Association, said Huntsman's call to action was a bit puzzling. "His own energy director was on the television the other day explaining that we're seeing prices follow the typical pattern for this time of year."

It was also Hill who a little over a week ago conceded that station owners were engaging in profit-taking and "making a little more than usual."

That said, he argues that it's important to remember the higher-in-summer, lower-in-winter theory.

Online

To see which stations have the lowest prices in the state, go to www.utahgasprices.com.