North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said the state will investigate all 622 price gouging complaints it has received in about two days.
As of this morning, a staggering 71% of the gas stations in North Carolina were reporting outages in fuel, according to GasBuddy.
"Each complaint will cause an investigation and we will do that investigation. If if I find price gougers, I'll hold them accountable," Stein told CNN.
He said the state's price gouging law comes into effect whenever the governor declares a state of emergency.
Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday evening, a move that allowed him to temporarily suspend some fuel regulations in a bid to ensure adequate supply.
"What it prohibits is sellers taking advantage of people's desperation to make a quick buck. So if a gas station has their supply and underground storage tank that they pay X dollars on, they can't raise the price on that just because folks are desperate," Stein said about the price gouging law.
He said the exception is if sellers pay more to resupply the fuel. They are allowed to pass those costs on to consumers, according to Stein.