Pinellas put on price-gouging alert

By ERIC TORBENSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 1998

urricanes put regulators on the lookout for price gouging by merchants.

More coverage from the Times on our Georges site.

Vendors can't boost prices by a "gross disparity" on basic emergency goods such as food, water or plywood. Pinellas County has a tougher standard: Items can't be more expensive than average prices reviewed 90 days before the disaster hit.

Businesses can increase their prices if their costs rise to stock and sell items during the emergency. That seemed to be the case with gasoline prices around the region. Some stations raised prices by several cents per gallon this week.

Gas distributors blamed high demand and closures of big gas shipping facilities like Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale for the increases. "The hurricane has nothing to do with this," said Bryan Guyton, who runs Guyton Energy Corp. of Tampa, providing gas to six local Texaco stations. "We really don't have control over the prices. We have to pass it on at the price we get it at."

The latest AAA auto club survey of gas prices in Tampa and St. Petersburg put the average gallon of regular unleaded gas at 99 cents for stations on Sept. 18. That's actually down slightly from the previous month's survey. Stations on Gandy Boulevard in Tampa on Thursday were still selling regular unleaded gas for 99 cents a gallon.

Several stations were out of gas completely Thursday, a trend that will only worsen. One Mobil station on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard went through 15,000 gallons of gas in four hours, station employees said.

Merchants found guilty of gouging by the state face $1,000 fines for each instance of gouging, up to $25,000 for one 24-hour period. In addition, Pinellas County can charge violators a $500 fine or send them to jail for 60 days.

Florida's Attorney General's Office received only a handful of calls Thursday, said spokesman Joe Bizzaro. The attorney general will investigate each complaint and decide which to prosecute. "But it's really limited to emergencies items; we aren't going to investigate if someone thinks they overpaid for a mink coat," Bizzaro said.

Consumers are asked to call (800) 329-6969 to report price gouging.