Gas Stations Paying The Price For Gouging 3 Local Stations Fined

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Some gas stations in North Carolina will be paying up after state officials caught them overcharging customers.

WXII showed video from when the Four Brothers raised their prices in Yadkinville on September 12, 2008.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Friday that 14 gas stations, including two in Yadkin County and one in Montgomery County, will have to pay a total of $70,000 in fines.

LR&S Inc., the owner of the Four Sister Center and Yadkinville Food Mart gas stations in Yadkinville, will pay $7,700 in fines, and Steve Compton will have to pay $7,800 for his BP Station in Troy.

Cooper said the stores sharply raised their prices on Sept. 12, 2008, the day Hurricane Ike made landfall along the Texas coast.

Cooper said the stations raised their prices from about $4 to more than $5.60 in a matter of hours. The BP in Troy raised prices to more $5.99, though no customers paid that high price.

The investigation found that those prices increased the company's markup over wholesale costs by more than 400 percent. The stations dropped their prices later that day after the news media, including WXII 12 News, reported they were price gouging.