The price of gas has stopped going down and has started going up.  The statewide average in Illinois is now $2.23, up from $2.13 a month ago, according to the Triple-A Fuel Gauge Report.  “It is indicative of the fact that oil prices are stabilizing a little bit. They’ve been very low for a while now, but also some refineries have started their maintenance process, and that always comes with a small uptick in prices,” says Beth Mosher, spokesman for the Aurora-based AAA-Chicago Motor Club.  The price is still cheaper than last year at this time by $1.13.

Diesel has started to come down now: It’s at $2.87, a 38-cent drop from January and a decline of $1.07 from a year ago.  Mosher says she expects the price of gas to remain moderate for the year, with the national average not topping $3. She says Illinois might go over $3 at some point, but probably not by much and not for long.