Price gouging at the gas pump

A co-worker went home for lunch today and noticed the price of regular unleaded at the convenience store she passes by every day went up 10 cents from the time she drove past the same pumps this morning.

A 10-cent spike in gas in about three hours? Tell me that's not price gouging.

Did we start bombing Iran today?

What exactly occurred in the world between 9 a.m. and noon to cause such a sharp rise in the price of gas?

I went to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Web site to see if there was any information about price gouging. The last news item I could find on the site was posted in September 2005, right after the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

I'm not sure who's updating Attorney General Tom Corbett's Web site these days, but they might want to put some fresh information on the site about gas price gouging.

There was a press release on the site about a bill passed last year by the state Legislature to prevent price gouging when a state of emergency is declared in Pennsylvania. But it does not appear that everyday price gouging is a priority.

I know it's hard to prove gouging at the pump. And it's the fault of the local service station or convenience store owner. They charge what their supplier charges them. But prices don't rise this much this quickly in any other sector of the economy.

And what about price fixing? Isn't that against the law? How is it that every gas station you drive by has the exact same price and raises its price by the same exact amount as soon as the next station adjusts its prices? That is collusion. That is against the law.

When will law enforcement actually enforce laws when it comes to gas prices?

(It doesn't help that Pennsylvania's gasoline tax stands at 32.3 cents per gallon, second highest in the nation. Gov. Ed Rendell has also proposed raising the state gas tax by 12.5 cents a gallon to fund mass transit and repair roads and bridges.)

If you suspect gouging at the pump in Pennsylvania, you are asked to fill out a form and the Attorney General will investigate.

You can download a complaint form or fill one out online. You can also call the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-441-2555 to report possible price gouging.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Web site is http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/

Start sending in those complain forms. Gas prices probably went up in the time you took to read this.