The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles area inched lower for the twelfth consecutive week, falling 2.2 cents to $2.257 for the week ended Dec. 26. The week before, prices slipped 3.1 cents to $2.279.

L.A. prices are 23.2 cents higher than they were a year ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. L.A. had the third-highest price of the cities surveyed, behind Miami ($2.372) and Chicago ($2.304).

Statewide, prices fell 1.6 cents to $2.233 from $2.249 one week earlier, leaving them 22.3 cents higher than year-ago rates. New York out-priced California for the second week in a row, adding 2.5 cents to $2.391.

Minnesota had the lowest-priced gas of the states surveyed, at $2.139 per gallon, and the city with the cheapest gas was Denver, which lost 4.7 cents to $2.102 per gallon.