Over 1,100 complaints of price gouging at the pump
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- There's been a lot of concern over price gouging at the pump. By Tuesday night, the Attorney General's Office had logged more than 1,145 complaints or allegations of gouging and issued five subpoenas to stations accused of it.
But state law is dripping with ambiguity over how to quantify gouging; how to tell whether a station is within its bounds to raise prices when neighboring stations don't.
To help clear it up, Governor Pat McCrory directed the State Department of Environmental Quality to ask Attorney General Roy Cooper to clear it up. This letter went out this morning and hadn't been responded to at the filing of this report.
Drivers tell us they get incensed with the idea of a station charging more for gas during a crisis.
"No one should ever have to pay more money for gas just because we're running out of gas," said Maydelia Henville of Durham.
Faye Watkins, another driver from Durham, agreed. "People take advantage of other people when you're in need. So people are in need of gas and they increase the price because of high demand."
But not all stations with higher prices are gouging.
"If they go up I follow them," said Raj Nela, who manages a station. "If they drop, I follow them."
Asked if he can raise prices on a whim, he said "We cannot. We've never done that and we will not. That's illegal, I would say."
Read more about the situation here.
