MACON, Ga. — In response to the damage from Hurricane Helene, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suspended the state's gas tax, saving customers roughly 30 cents per gallon at the pump.
With lights off for many people, the goal was to help people power their generators while not spending an arm and a leg.
"A lot of people in rural communities we were talking to yesterday are spending a lot on fuel right now, responding to the storm, running generators, to get their wells going, to power their homes," Kemp said at the time. "We feel this will economically help people a bit."
At one point, Kemp said there were 1.3 million customers in Georgia without power. That week, there were nearly 600,000 customers unable to turn on the lights.
In a press conference, Kemp broke down the savings directly. For regular gas, customers at the pump could save up to 32 cents per gallon, and for Deisel, the saving is even greater: up to 36 cents per gallon.
But, if things don't change, those savings are set to expire soon.
Georgia's gas tax will expire on Wednesday as Georgia's State of Emergency declaration expires. At the same time, Kemp could extend the state of emergency, as of Tuesday, but that has not been done yet.
That means that the "State of Emergency" is scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
Kemp instituted the State of Emergency on Sept. 24 ahead of the storm. The executive order was scheduled to expire on Oct. 2. Then, on Oct. 1, the day before the State of Emergency was set to expire, Kemp extended the emergency declaration until Oct. 9.
So if the State of Emergency is not extended, the gas tax will go back into effect when the clock strikes midnight and Wednesday turns to Thursday.
