True to his word, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis revealed yesterday that "several" individuals and supermarkets were referred to the Office of the Attorney General for suspected acts of price gouging, as consumers rushed to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Irma.
Minnis reasserted his warning to merchants and suppliers against hiking prices up in the lead-up to and in the wake of a natural disaster, during his contribution in Parliament yesterday.
He pointed out that he tasked the Price Control Commission to keep an eye on any increase in prices for essential items needed during a natural disaster.
Any suspected violations would be reported to the Office of the Attorney General.
Retailers and wholesalers were warned that marking up prices in the "advent of a potential natural disaster is a criminal offense" under the terms of the Price Control Act and the regulations under that act.
Minnis said, "I am happy to report that several individuals and supermarkets have been referred to the attorney general and God willing I hope they are prosecuted."
In conjunction with price gouging, retailers and wholesalers were also warned against acts of "hoarding" of items for "speculation" or "profiteering" and marking up.
The warning applied to suppliers/sellers of essential items such as breadbasket food items, medical and prescription drug supplies, as well as hurricane preparedness items such as plywood and nails.
But despite the call to protect consumers against unfair prices, Chairman of the Price Control Commission Syndia Dorsett recently told Guardian Business that there was a significant amount of complaints being made to the commission.
"We have been getting a lot of complaints concerning price gouging on a lot of items that are breadbasket and some that are not," she said.
"We got complaints about gasoline. We had a lot of complaints about service stations increasing the price on water."
Dorsett also said that complaints were received about higher prices on candles, batteries, lamp oil and lumber materials.
She pointed out that price gouging may also have occurred on Grand Bahama, where complaints came in about raised prices on cereals and juices.
There were some complaints from Exuma on the price of generic bleach.

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