PROVIDENCE – “After one week unchanged, gasoline prices in Rhode Island have resumed their downward trend,” Lloyd P. Alpert, senior vice president for public and government affairs, wrote in AAA Southern New England’s weekly fuel-price report.

In AAA’s Dec. 29 survey, the average price of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline at Ocean State stations fell 4 cents per gallon to $1.649, after holding steady the week before at $1.689 per gallon. (READ MORE) Today’s Rhode Island average was $2.52 less than the record high of $4.109 per gallon recorded in AAA’s weekly survey on July 7 and $1.46 cents less than the $3.109 per gallon of a year ago.

In neighboring Massachusetts, prices fell for a 15th straight week, leaving Bay State residents paying an average of $1.629 per gallon for self-serve regular, the nonprofit auto club said. That was 3 cents less than in AAA’s Dec. 22 survey, $2.46 less than the state’s July 7 record price of $4.089 and $1.41 less than the Bay State’s year-ago price of $3.039 per gallon.

The last time the average price of self-serve regular was this low in either state was nearly five years ago, in January 2004, AAA added.

At Rhode Island stations today, the range in self-serve prices for unleaded regular widened to 27 cents from last week’s 20 cents; prices ranged from a low of $1.529 to a high of $1.799. Wider ranges were seen for other grades of fuel, which had average self-serve prices of $1.799 per gallon for midgrade unleaded (down 3 cents per gallon), $1.929 for premium unleaded gasoline (also down 3 cents) and $2.629 for diesel (unchanged from Dec. 22).

AAA Southern New England is a nonprofit auto club providing travel, insurance, finance and auto-related services to more than 2 million local members with 34 offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. To find the most up-to-date self-service and full-service gasoline prices in a given area, go to www.AAA.com and click on Gas Saving Tips & Tools.