The Consumer Protection Division of the Texas attorney general’s office said Thursday that it has received
more than 500 complaints of price-gouging.
Most complaints have cited prices ranging from $6 to $8 a gallon for gas.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
issued a warning in response to gas stations against any attempt to take advantage of Harvey victims.
"Texas law protects consumers from fraud in Dallas and other parts of Texas outside of the governor’s declared disaster areas," Marc Rylander,
communications director for the attorney general’s office, said. “If Dallas consumers are victims of fraud by gas stations, we urge them to contact our agency’s consumer protection hotline so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.”
The agency is looking into nine cases so far but expects more,
according to CNN, and gas is far from the only issue.
One convenience store in Houston reportedly charged $20 for a gallon of gas, $8.50 for a water bottle, and $99 for a case of water, the attorney general's office said.
At a Best Western hotel in Robstown, near where Harvey made landfall in Corpus Christi, rooms more than doubled in price after the hurricane, the AG’s office
told Austin television station KXAN Thursday. A crew from the station booked a room and was charged $321.89, including taxes, a night. (The normal price is $119 a night.)