TRENTON — The owners of three New Jersey gas stations allegedly raised prices multiple times in one day after Hurricane Irene, which is illegal under state law, the Attorney General's Office said. The gas stations — Delta, 2045 South Broad St., Trenton; Lukoil, 298 Kings Highway, Cherry Hill; and Citgo, 1402 Route 47, Rio Grande — are charged with...
Three N.J. gas stations allegedly raised prices multiple times in one day after Hurricane Irene, which is illegal, the Attorney General's Office said.TRENTON — The owners of three New Jersey gas stations allegedly raised prices multiple times in one day after Hurricane Irene, which is illegal under state law, the Attorney General's Office said.
The gas stations — Delta, 2045 South Broad St., Trenton; Lukoil, 298 Kings Highway, Cherry Hill; and Citgo, 1402 Route 47, Rio Grande — are charged with violating the state's Motor Fuels law.
The station owners face a civil penalty of up to $1,500 for a first offense.
The Attorney General's Office said the stations' actions did not constitute "price gouging" — defined as a station charging more than 10 percent more than the price charged before an emergency &*mdash; but nonetheless broke the law.
“It’s no less reprehensible,” Thomas Calcagni, director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, said in a news release.
To date, the division has received 103 consumer complaints related to illegal pricing in the wake of Hurricane Irene, 74 of which were determined to be unfounded, the release said.
The three alleged gas station violations are the first substantiated violations related to Irene, the division said. Twenty-six complaints remain under investigation.