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.
The gas tax suspension was set to expire on Thursday — when the state's emergency declaration was set to expire — but that changed Tuesday afternoon.
Kemp extended the State of Emergency declaration to roughly 65 Georgia counties but allowed the declaration to expire for the rest of Georgia.
But while allowing the emergency to end for some Georgia counties, the extension kept the gas tax suspension in effect for the entire state, not just those who are still under a state of emergency, according to Garrison Douglas with the governor's office.
Because of that, the gas tax extension will not expire when the clock hits midnight and Wednesday becomes Thursday. Instead, it'll stay in effect until next week, expiring at 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 16.
Until then, the savings at the pump will remain.
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.