Calls of price gouging :: 11Alive.com

Quote:

The order allows the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs to seek civil sanctions against retailers who can't justify their prices based on the price they paid for the product.

But the retailers who raise prices today - even when they're selling fuel they bought yesterday - are doing a public service by rationing it to those who place the highest value on using the fuel. They are simply helping the governor address a problem he had previously addressed:

Earlier in the day, Gov. Sonny Perdue asked Georgians to remain calm over the rising price of gasoline, saying the state's major distributor should be operational by the weekend.

"There's no reason to panic. There's plenty of gas on the way and the only way we'll have problems locally is if we rush out and hoard," the governor said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference. "Stay calm and conserve, don't just run out to top off your tank. Just continue with normal fueling habits."

Despite Perdue's advice, Metro Atlantans spilled out of gas stations and onto busy roadways as they waited for their turn to fuel up. Some said the fear was sparked by messages being sent over e-mail that prices were on their way up. “We got an e-mail and that e-mail was saying that gas prices were going to go up a dollar extra,” said Bunmi Jinadu. An e-mail message Tomeka Lambert received said that pumps would run out of gas by the end of the day.

Running out of gas would be a problem. If prices are allowed to rise it won't happen.