A major gasoline wholesaler and retailer will pay $50,000 in penalties for price-gouging in the wake of Hurricane Sandy at six Mobil stations in Westchester County and the lower Hudson Valley, state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Wednesday.
The state”™s settlement with CPD Energy Corp. in New Paltz is the largest penalty paid by a single operator for jacking up gas pump prices in the storm”™s aftermath.
Schneiderman said CPD raised prices for regular unleaded gasoline by 42 cents to 70 cents per gallon at the following service stations:
Chestnut Mart, 174 Westchester Ave., White Plains;
Hutchinson Parkway Station, Hutchinson River Parkway, White Plains;
Yorktown Food Mart Inc., 2035 Saw Mill River Road, Yorktown Heights;
Chestnut Mart Inc., 838 Kimball Ave., Yonkers;
Friendly Service New Paltz, 409 Main St., New Paltz;
Chestnut Mart Inc., 3081 Route 22, Patterson.
Schneiderman noted the higher pump prices far exceeded CPD”™s additional costs of about 16 cents per gallon to transport fuel to the Mobil stations from more distant supply terminals that were not affected by the hurricane.
The state also reached settlements for smaller penalties with these retail stations:
Katonah Gas & Auto Service Inc., 80 Bedford Road, Katonah;
Mamaroneck Service Inc., 1237 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains;
A&Z Service Center, 364 New Hempstead Road, New City.
The penalty sums were not disclosed.
The attorney general said 42 gas stations will pay a total of $287,618 in penalties and costs for violating the state”™s price gouging law in the days after the devastating storm last October. Lawsuits against two other gas stations are pending, Schneiderman said, and several other gas stations are being investigated.
