Gas Stations Allegedly Pumped Customers for Money

A number of Georgia gas stations have paid fines to the state Office of Consumer Affairs over reported price gouging in the wake of Gulf Coast hurricanes last fall.

Among those fined were nine Tennessee-based Pilot Travel Center stations. The Pilot stations were listed as the top nine alleged offenders. Among the local ones was a Pilot on Highway 29 in Newnan and a Pilot located on Cassville White Road in Cartersville.

The metro Atlanta area stations that had fined levied against them were:

• the Chevron at 400 N. Cobb Parkway in Marietta;
• the Citgo at 2900 Evans Mill Road in Lithonia;
• Leon’s Food Mart at 5410 Matt Highway in Cumming;
• the Kroger at 2325 Bethel View Road in Cumming;
• the Kroger at 3651 Peachtree Parkway in Suwanee;
• the Shell at 3794 Bouldercrest Road in Ellenwood;
• Coastal Gas Station at 935 Dallas Highway in Douglasville;
• the Shell at 2874 Ridge Road in Douglasville;
• the Executive Park Chevron at 2911 Buford Highway in Atlanta.

In all, the state is investigating some 200 stations related to complaints of unfairly increasing prices following the hurricanes, which left several Southern states short on gas.

According to a released statement from Pilot, the case involved a technical violation to Georgia law “in that it was not recovering its full cost on the date when the state of emergency was declared. Had Pilot increased its prices at the time of the declaration in order to recover all of its costs, Pilot likely would not have been found in violation.”