Ken Baronian, of Providence, says the drop in prices has not been significant enough to prompt a change in his lifestyle.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

CRANSTON — When gasoline prices reached their all-time high of more than $4 a gallon in July, it would have taken about $80 for Diane Greene to fill the tank on her Toyota Sienna minivan.

She does not know exactly how much it would have cost because she never tried; she simply could not afford it, she said. “I always threw in $10, $20” at a time, she said.

But today the picture is different. Gasoline prices have been cut nearly in half over the last four months. The cost of filling her tank is now about $45, she said. The price is still high, she said, but it is more affordable now.

Across Rhode Island, motorists are finding lower prices lately at the gas pump. The average, self-serve price for regular gasoline is now about $2.22 a gallon, according to a survey yesterday by the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

That is down about 10 cents from the price of about $2.33 a gallon a week ago, a drop of 4.3 percent.

It is down by $1.90 a gallon from the record of $4.12 set in July, a drop of about 46 percent.

One reason is that crude-oil prices have generally fallen sharply in recent months, and “gasoline prices are following crude-oil prices,” said John Paul, manager of public affairs for the AAA Southern New England auto club.

Another reason is that demand has fallen by 8 percent or 9 percent in recent months, he said.

Whatever the reasons, motorists are taking notice.

When prices were at their peak, Greene, 41, of Providence, asked friends and family members to pitch in to help cover the cost of gas when she gave them rides.

She does not do that any longer, she said. And the lower prices have allowed her to log a few more miles.

“I’m driving more because it’s cheaper,” she said. So she now makes a few more trips for shopping or for shuttling her two children from place to place, she said.

But Greene, who works as a cashier at a toy store, said she is not splurging. “You never know what’s going to happen” with gas prices, she said. Besides, “Christmas is coming,” and she needs to set aside some money for shopping.

Greene was one of several motorists interviewed at two gas stations along Cranston Street yesterday.

All said they have noticed the drop in prices. But there was no celebration.

Joe Rouhana, 31, of Providence, an owner of American Performance Petroleum at 964 Cranston St., said, “People are still hurting.”

They must somehow make up for the extra money they spent on higher fuel prices over the last year or two, “and it’s hard,” he said.

His family-run, full-service station also felt the pinch, he said. As oil prices rose worldwide, the price he had to pay for fuel increased, he said.

That, in turn, led to increases in the prices he charged his customers. “I had no choice” but to increase prices at the pump, he said.

He had to explain to customers the many factors involved in the oil-price spike, factors that were beyond his control. “We’re the last ones on the pole,” he said.

Now, he said, his customers are “happy [that prices are] going down,” he said.

Among his customers yesterday were Bill and Joyce Cook, retirees from Scituate.

When prices were high, they put fewer miles on their 2003 Cadillac DeVille, said Bill Cook, 69, a retired chemical worker. Since prices have fallen, however, “I can afford to go to the store more than once a week,” said Joyce Cook, 77, a homemaker.

Before, she had to plan carefully, in advance, to visit the store, the library, the cleaners, the post office and the drugstore all in one day, she said.

Now, “You’re not limited to lumping it altogether,” she said. Nor must she limit her grocery shopping to Scituate now. If there is a sale at a market in Johnston, for example, “I can take advantage of it,” she said.

Overall, “It’s kind of fun to drive around” again, she said.

Shawn Coyle, 39, of Pawtucket, a self-employed contractor who normally drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee, said he plans no major changes as a result of the drop in fuel prices. But the money he has saved in the cost of gasoline could mean more visits to relatives in New Hampshire, he said.

Ken Baronian, 77, a retiree from Providence, who was pumping gas into his 1995 Toyota Corolla, said the drop in prices is not significant enough yet to prompt a change in lifestyle.

What is he doing with the savings in the meantime? He is not sure. “It must go someplace. … Maybe I’m smoking more cigars now,” he said.

Down the street yesterday, at the Food ’N Fuel station, Carlos Serrano, 69, a retiree from Providence, said he is driving his Geo Prizm “a little bit more” now.

And with the money he saves through lower fuel prices, he said he can afford to spend more on groceries. “I can buy more food, better food,” he said.

Richard McCaffrey, 35, of Johnston, said he typically uses his Jeep Grand Cherokee to commute between his home and his job in Cranston as a sample maker.

At the market’s most recent peak, it cost him about $80 to fill the tank. Now, it cost him about $50, he said.

What will he do with the money he saves? “Christmas is coming. I’ve got two kids. So it’ll go to the kids,” he said.

A survey by AAA Southern New England yesterday showed that gas prices in Rhode Island have fallen for the eighth consecutive week. During that time, prices dropped by more than $1.30 per gallon.

Other fuel prices have also fallen lately. For example, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources survey showed that the average price of diesel fuel was about $3.31 a gallon yesterday, down from $3.48 last week.

And the average price of home-heating oil yesterday was about $2.75 a gallon, down from about $2.79 last week.

Nationally, oil prices fluctuated throughout the day yesterday, tracking closely with the path on Wall Street where an early rally failed to hold.

Light, sweet crude oil for December delivery rose $1.37 to settle at $62.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, but swung as low as $59.10 at one point.

The weakening in the U.S. dollar, partially driven by the $586-billion Chinese stimulus package, may be pushing investors to buy crude, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates.

“We still have this connection between the oil market, the equity markets and the currency markets,” Ritterbusch said.

In other national trading, heating oil futures rose 2.7 cents to settle at $2 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 1.73 cents to settle at $1.367 a gallon.

With Associated Press reports

ndowning@projo.com