If you use a car to commute in SoCal, here’s some news you’ve already felt: gas prices have reached their highest level in five years in California, and have hit 17 straight days of increases in L.A. County.

If you have friends in other states, here’s some more news your friend has probably hipped you to: California’s gas prices are about $1.50 more per gallon than the national average ($4.13 a gallon compared to $2.67).

We’ve heard about those Saudi oil strikes at the heart of Trump administration tensions with Iran, but why is SoCal in particular seeing such dramatic spikes?

This is the sort of thing Jamie Court tracks as President of the consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, and he joined Spectrum News anchor Amrit Singh for a conversation on the “Golden State gouge,” the reasons it exists, and whether independent gas stations are slinging the same quality gas as the more expensive name brands (spoiler alert: they are).