Is Mygallons.com the Answer to High Fuel Prices?

The newest business idea to protect consumers from current high fuel prices is a Web site called Mygallons.com. The program works as a hedge against future increases by guaranteeing its customers today's fuel rate. In other words, your purchases are really based on the number of gallons today's price would bring in the future. In fact, a card holder may even get to the point where they watched fuel prices and chose when to employ the card.

Technically, Mygallons.com is run like a debit card in that it must remain "paid in advance" and one has a decreasing "gallon" balance based on past usage.

The overall program starts when one registers online at the site and creates an account. Then a certain amount of money is determined by the customer with respect to what amount they wish to pay. If they choose to pay $100 and the current cost of gas is $4 a gallon, then they are assured of 25 gallons of fuel even if the cost per gallon goes to $11 per gallon. After the online business is complete, the account holder is sent a card with which to pre-pay their gas purchases.

Mygallon.com allows monitoring of a person's account online. One can check their "gallon balance" and can add funds or recharge the card as the case may be.

Of course, as with all businesses, there is a charge for their services. In order to be a member of Mygallon.com you are first tagged with a $29.95 annual membership fee. Every time that you "reload" your card you are charged $1.95 and if you exceed your limit, you are charged $15. The services are eerily like those of a bank's credit card or prepaid debit. The ersatz "overdraft protection plan" for Mygallons.com triggers an automatic purchase of more fuel when your gallon balance dips below 15 gallons.

Basically what Mygallons.com has done is to elevate fuel to a manageable commodity where a person can control the future cost (and needed budget compliance) much as any other overhead debt. That is one of the biggest problems of the fluctuating gas prices is the uncertainty of needed future funds.