Like other motorists on O'ahu yesterday, Richard Breaux of Wai'anae was feeling the pinch at the pump.

"It's surprising to me that it's going up so fast. If I don't get another job it's going to hit me hard," Breaux said. "I think before next week it's going to go up to $3 a gallon."

A worldwide jump in crude oil prices is coming home to Hawai'i, with people paying more for gasoline, electricity and the cost of shipping goods.

The cost of a gallon of regular jumped 38 cents in the past month. In June, homeowners will see higher electricity costs for the first time since September. Matson Navigation Co. increased its fuel surcharge yesterday, which could boost prices on all goods it ships into the state.

This is all courtesy of oil prices, which have more than doubled since December. The price increase is being felt nationwide, but perhaps nowhere in the country is it felt as keenly as it is in Hawai'i, where petroleum accounts for about 90 percent of the state's energy needs.

PAY MORE, GET LESS

Consumers were whipsawed by historic high oil prices last year, paying more than $4 a gallon for gasoline and being shocked by electricity bills after oil hit a record 145.18 a barrel last July.

The past three months have witnessed an increase in oil prices as talk of a possible economic recovery and other factors affect costs. What's more, some experts are projecting oil prices will go higher in coming months and possibly next year.

"It's not good news," said economist Ibrahim Dik, a professor at Kapi'olani Community College.

"The oil prices effect everything, not only the Hawai'i economy, but the United States economy and the world economy."

Moreover, they disproportionately hit lower-income people because more of their money goes toward essential items, Dik said. These same folks have also been hurt more than higher-income workers in terms of unemployment and cuts in hours.

Dik said in effect, many people are buying less and paying more for it.

In Kapolei yesterday, Milton Pacrem was at Tesoro, squeezing regular gas at $2.839 a gallon into his pickup. The Goodyear mechanic recently had his hours cut in half.

Now he limits his driving to work.

Pacrem places the current financial meltdown squarely at the feet of the escalating cost of gas. Those pump prices raised the cost of everything from food and clothing to airline tickets, he said. People pushed to the financial edge couldn't make their home, car and other big-ticket item payments.

"I think gas prices going up is what started this whole recession," Pacrem said.

2ND-HIGHEST IN U.S.

Hawai'i's current economic downturn was caused by more than just the increase in crude oil prices, but nonetheless Dik said the recent uptick in prices won't help.

"It will have a negative impact on recovery," he said.

Hawai'i's statewide average gasoline cost reached $2.869 a gallon yesterday, or second-highest in the nation behind Michigan, according to AAA Hawaii's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. On Maui, the average rose to $3.122 a gallon.

Bill Green, a consultant and former owner of Kahala Shell, said customers are talking about the increase, which he said was brought on by rising crude oil prices.

"Nobody likes it," said Green, explaining that pump prices will probably go higher as crude trades higher. Even if crude remained the same price, the price would increase because of pending state tax hikes on gasoline sales.

Green said it's expected prices will jump by about 10 cents a gallon when a moratorium on charging a state general excise tax expires at the end of June.

Moreover, a bill passed by the Legislature would add a $1-a-barrel tax to crude oil that could filter down to consumers in the form of a 2-cent or so increase in the price of gasoline, Green said.

'HERE WE GO AGAIN'

A barrel of crude oil for future delivery closed at $68.44 on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, or about 1 1/2 times the $44.60 it started the year at, and more than twice the low of $33.87 hit less than six months ago.

The prices have been soaring despite a massive surplus of petroleum and natural gas. A large amount of speculative money has flowed into the markets, according to government reports. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. this week raised its forecast for oil to $85 a barrel for the end of 2009 and $95 for the end of 2010.

"There's this feeling of 'here we go again' with what happened last year," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief analyst at Oil Price Information Service, in an interview with The Associated Press.

"It hurts discretional spending. It leaves people to think about not taking those summer vacations."

OTHER COSTS RISING

Pump prices have a ways to go to hit the $4.507 Hawai'i statewide record reached on July 31, 2008. But Matson Navigation Co., which powers its ships with bunker fuel produced from crude, yesterday announced it would raise its fuel surcharge to 28 percent from 20 percent on July 5.

That's a level not seen since last October and will mark the third increase in the surcharge since May 23, when the surcharge stood at 15 percent.

The increase will translate into an extra 1.45 cents per head of lettuce being shipped from the West Coast to Hawai'i, and tack on $68.14 to the cost of shipping a privately owned car.

"We had hoped the trend would reverse, but it's just rising," said Matson spokesman Jeff Hull.

Meanwhile, HECO this week said its June electricity rates for residential customers would increase slightly. Much of the company's electricity on O'ahu comes from generators fired by fuel oil.

The typical residential customer using 600 kilowatt hours of electricity will see their bill increase from a month earlier by $2.91 to $120.36 as rates rise to 18.63 cents per kilowatt hour.

That's still cheaper than what homeowners paid during all of last year. Still, the rising energy prices, especially those at the pump, are catching people's attention, and folks are hoping things don't go higher.

Candy Frank of Pearl City is holding her breath. As long as gas stays in the $2-plus range, the Hawaiian Airlines plane cleaner thinks she can cope by limiting her consumption to $20 per trip to the pump.

"I'm not even filling it up," she said. "If it goes over $3 a gallon, I'll cry. No more cruising."