Gasoline expands when temperature is high and is of less volume when temperature is low. There is a monetary effect of this scientific phenomenon to all car owners, when the fuel is warmer, it should become cheaper and when it is cooled, it will become more expensive. Unlike Canada, the United States do not have the technology of metering system in our pumps that determines how much the fuel was heated or cooled that adjusts the price accordingly. The upshot? An annual $2 billion hand-out of our consumers’ pockets and into the cash vaults of the oil companies.

Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a North Carolina based company recently manufactured a device—a temperature-sensitive chamber for fuel. The device will be attached to the gasoline pumps and will aid us to regain some of our gas-price pressures. The device is said to be simple and functional and currently widely used in Canada.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, chair of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee headed the second investigation why such technology failed to reach the US oil market.

Warmer fuels delivers less energy to cars and colder fuels delivers more energy, making it advisable not to buy gasoline when it is hot outside. With the temperature-sensitive metering device, we are supposed to pay cheaper for our fuels during the summer because it delivers less energy to our cars.

In Canada, they pay for the energy that they get out of the purchased gasoline. While in the United States, consumers pay for the volume of the gasoline and not the energy it generates.

In the investigation of Kucinich, gas retailers explained that they do not use the heat meters—or the “automatic temperature compensation” because state regulations won’t let them.

"State weights and measures regulations have not adopted temperature correction," said Hugh Cooley, Shell Oil Company Vice President.

“Across the U.S. a gallon is still defined as 231 cubic inches by law.” echoed Ben Soraci, Director of General Sales for ExxonMobil.