The state's wholesale gasoline cap will drop by a penny a gallon on Monday, the seventh consecutive weekly decline.

The state Public Utilities Commission trimmed the cap to $1.7581 for a gallon of regular on O'ahu from $1.768.

The act regulating wholesale gasoline prices is the nation's only gas price control law and went into effect on Sept. 1. It regulates only prices charged by wholesalers and distributors, and doesn't limit what stations can charge.

Motorists in Hawai'i pay the nation's highest gasoline prices. Retail prices generally have followed the wholesale changes. The cut should result in regular gasoline prices falling at O'ahu's lowest-priced stations to about $2.50 a gallon, said Harvey Shapiro, who has come up with a formula for calculating the price.

The new price limit for other areas in the state includes: $1.8991 for Kaua'i; $1.8971 for Maui, excluding Hana; $2.0051 for Moloka'i; $2.0961 for Lana'i; $1.9061 for Hilo; and $1.9251 for Kona.