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Rising Prices For Gas Nearing $4 A Gallon

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By RUSSELL RAY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

TAMPA - Gasoline prices in Florida continued to rise Wednesday, even as state investigators examine a growing number of price-gouging complaints.

Pump prices at several Tampa locations have returned to near $4 a gallon after Hurricane Ike ripped through Texas last weekend and shut down about 20 percent of the nation's oil-refining capacity.

The Florida Attorney General's Office said nearly 2,400 price-gouging complaints are being reviewed by the state's Economic Crimes Division. Hillsborough County had the second-highest number of complaints, with 215. Duval County had the most, with 218. In Pasco County, 154 complaints against retailers are under review.

Some locations in Tampa ran out of fuel Wednesday, but AAA spokesman Gregg Laskoski downplayed the problems, the result of the storm and a reduction in refining capacity.

"There may be some sporadic outages, but we don't think this is a systemic problem," Laskoski said. "It's probably just going to be a matter of hours before those retailers can get their next delivery."

A preliminary review indicates that the run-up in prices may be linked to wholesale fuel suppliers, not retailers, said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. State Attorney General Bill McCollum and state Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson have subpoenaed the records of several major oil terminals in Florida.

"The retailers can back up the fact that they are merely passing on increased costs," McElroy said.

Bronson on Tuesday issued subpoenas for the sales records of 16 oil terminals. The companies have a week to turn over the documents. State investigators want to know what those companies were paying for fuel supplies and what those supplies were sold for.

"If there's an appreciable increase and they haven't incurred any additional expenses," McElroy said, those companies could be fined up to $25,000 a day.

"It doesn't have to be the retailer," he said. "It can be anyone along the distribution chain."

Florida has been under a state of emergency for about a month as a series of tropical storms and hurricanes crossed or neared the state. Under state law, price gouging occurs if the increase is in "gross disparity" from the average during the 30 days before the declared emergency.

McElroy said the most extreme report of price gouging was in Tallahassee, where one station was charging $5.49 for a gallon of regular unleaded, $1.80 higher than the previous week. But the retailer's records showed that the wholesale cost of that fuel had been jacked up $1.85 a gallon, McElroy said.

Meanwhile, the price of regular gasoline continued to rise in markets throughout Florida on Wednesday.

In the Tampa Bay area, regular unleaded was averaging $3.84 a gallon, 2 cents higher than the day before, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

The statewide average was $3.88 a gallon, up from $3.87 Tuesday.

In Tampa, retailers were charging between $3.49 and $3.99 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to www.gasbuddy.com, which tracks the lowest and highest pump prices in markets nationwide.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.

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