Ike Wreaks Havoc at the Pumps

If you were out driving around today, you may have thought the gas stations and convenience stores were giving away free gas.

Upon hearing the news that hurricane, Ike has the nations oil refineries square in its sights, motorists converged in mass upon any location that had not raised their price per gallon for fuel as of mid-day Friday.

Once a few stations jumped the gun and began raising gas prices the rush was on. Drivers waited in extremely long lines and one after another made their way to the pump to top off the tank. There were reports in several areas that the frustration of the frantic motorists boiled over and sparked physical altercations resulting in law enforcement being called in to control the situation.

Locally, a hand full of stations began the price bump last night by increasing the price by as much as 24 cents before closing. Other areas such as Roanoke and Salem began around 10am in raising their pricing some as much as 96 cents. The most drastic increases took place around Staunton Va. where many stations pushed their price per gallon to an uncalled for five dollars and twenty-three cents. Gas in the mid-Atlantic and southern-Atlantic states was averaging just $3.60 last week, according to the Department of Energy.

As frantic customers trying to beat the expected price increases drained many gas retailers’ tanks, Rumors have been flying wildly about fuel prices reaching six dollars per gallon by the first of next week. From all the reports from analyst are only calling for prices to increase by 50 cents per gallon at the most. However, those same analysts also issued caution saying that depending on the path and possible disruption Ike causes those estimates could increase.

Virginia is not the only state affected by Ike; in the Carolinas, AAA Carolinas spokeswoman, Carol Gifford stated today "We are encouraging motorists to exercise some restraint this weekend,. The run on gas is creating a crisis before there is a crisis."

With fuel reserves already down due the Gustov, today’s run on the pumps may have caused a bad situation to actually worsen by placing more of a drain on the nations fuel supply.

Over the coming days and weeks, if you think you're seeing price gouging, the Attorney General's office will follow up on any complaints. You can fill out a price gouging complaint form at http://vdacs.virginia.gov/forms-pdf/cp/oca/complaint/pricegouging.pdf or make your complaint over the phone at 1-800-552-9963.

For details on what constitutes price gouging, go to http://vdacs.virginia.gov/consumer/index.shtml.

Officials say it's not just gas prices that can be subject to gouging. If you notice any "unconcionable prices" on food or other essentials, they say you shouldn't hesitate to file a complaint.