Are we being gouged?

An interesting thing happened on my way to work this morning. Traveling into town on Highway 18 I noticed gas had risen to $2.75/gallon at the Crossroads Shell. I was not completely surprised as I noticed all gas prices rising since the holidays. But in my rearview mirror I noticed something that made my radar do a little more than blip. Ingles gas prices were holding steady at $2.53/gallon. Now this was highly interesting to me in so much as the Ingles gas pumps are corporately owned whereas the others are independently owned. I decided to drive around town a little more and by 8:30am had discovered the following prices (for regular unleaded):College Drive Marathon – $2.63/gallonFlash Foods – $2.63/gallonIngles – $2.53/gallonJR’s – $2.75/gallonB&L – $2.79/galloncrossroads Shell – $2.75/gallonReliable (on Grove and 341) – $2.56/gallonChevron (aka Hot Spot) – $2.65/gallonPetro – $2.54/gallonMarathon – $2.75/gallonAre we being gouged? Is this all in speculation of snow flurries? Did we not see this same behavior during Hurricane Ike in 2008? In fact, in September 2008 Gov. Sonny Perdue signed an executive order activating Georgia’s price gouging statute to protect Georgia consumers from unlawful increases in gas prices and other products.’The threat of Hurricane Ike has disrupted the production of distribution of gasoline, which will have an effect on prices,’ said Perdue.’However, we expect the prices that Georgians pay at the pump to be in line with the prices retailers are paying. We will not tolerate retailers taking advantage of Georgians during a time of emergency,’ he added.So, are we being taken advantage of? Is it time to take action?GO!UPDATE: Within the last hour Flash Foods has decreased their price to $2.52 while Ingles has risen to $2.56/gallon.