The lower gas prices New Jersey drivers are seeing this holiday season is the gift that's predicted to keep on giving.

Gas Prices
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The average driver will spend close to $550 dollars less for gas in 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That savings will average about $45 a month.

"I think it's a substantial savings," said Tom Kloza, an analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

Overall, the EIA said drivers will spend about $1,962 on gas in 2015, a 20 percent drop from this year.  The last time motorists spent as little at the pump was in 2004.

Gas is expected to average $2.60 a gallon. If you compare that projection with some of the recent years, it's a savings of $100 billion more than 2012 and 2013, according to Kloza.

The savings benefit could go beyond just the driving economy.

"I think that we will see this filter into lower inflation everywhere in the economy. Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, and it is a wonderful holiday gift and I think it will be the gift that keeps on giving," Kloza said.

There are several major factors, according to Kloza, that have brought consumers these savings. The biggest is the sharp increase in domestic oil production brought on by the boom in the production of shale oil. But Americans on the whole have also been driving more energy efficient vehicles for quite some time now, and those efficiencies just keep getting better.

People won't be saving at just the pump. Those that use oil to heat their homes should also get a break. "If you are a home heating oil customer, you may be paying less than $2.50 a gallon for your home heating oil this winter, versus $4.25 last winter," Kloza said.

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