CHARLOTTE, N.C. — THE QUESTION:
Did North Carolina see a rise in price gouging complaints during the Colonial Pipeline shutdown?
ANSWER:
Yes, North Carolina did see a rise in price gouging complaints during the Colonial Pipeline Shutdown.
SOURCES:
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
WHAT WE FOUND:
On May 10, the Governor signed an Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency in North Carolina in response to the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
That Order triggered the price gouging law to go into effect.
According to the North Carolina Attorney Generals Office, price gouging is defined as taking advantage of a crisis to overcharge customers for a product.
"If all they are doing is raising their prices to make a quick buck off of desperate people, that is price gouging, that's illegal, and I will go after them for that," Attorney General Stein said.
Stein said he received 1,038 gas price gouging complaints in the ten days since the Governor's executive order went into effect.
To give some perspective, from January to April, four months, they received 107 price gouging complaints.
"We saw complaints seven dollars eight dollars 10.99 and some over ten dollars, those are extremely troubling figures, obviously and we are going to get to the bottom to determine whether there was price gouging," Stein said.
The Attorney Generals Office is investigating complaints, if the allegations are true, that could cost gas stations up to $ 5,000 per violation.
"If they cannot justify an unreasonable increase, then that's price gouging, and then they are in trouble," Stein said.
The Attorney General said it will take some time to investigate all those complaints to determine if any gas stations were engaged in price gouging.
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