First flames, then fees: Tahoe evacuees report price-gouging

STATELINE, Nevada – As frightened Lake Tahoe residents packed up their belongings and fled a raging wildfire that burned toward the California-Nevada border, some encountered an unexpected obstacle: price gouging.

A rideshare company reported a fee of more than $ 1,500 for transportation from the smoky ski resort in Heavenly Valley to the safe Reno-Tahoe International Airport, about eight times the usual price. A Nevada hotel-casino outside the evacuation zone advertised a two-day stay for $ 1,090.72, nearly four times the weekly rate advertised the previous day.

Reports of price gouging routinely crop up during natural disasters and caught new attention at the start of the pandemic as some companies tried to capitalize on panic amid demand for toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

While there’s no federal law prohibiting it in emergencies, at least a dozen states have looked at price gouging since last year, including Nevada and California, where Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law banning the practice last September.

In contrast to California, however, a price gouging ban signed by Governor Steve Sisolak in June will not come into effect in Nevada until October. Its start date restricts officials from monitoring the issue and taking action beyond the promise to monitor it.

“We hope that good dealers do not participate in price gouging,” said Sisolak on Tuesday in Carson City, where ash particles from the Caldor fire rained down from the sky. “They will take part in making their goods available to as large a group of people as possible.”

Officials in both states publicly warned companies of price gouging in the shadow of the massive fire. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, his Nevada counterpart Aaron Ford and US MP Mark Amodei urged consumers to report incidents to their offices.

Ford’s office said Wednesday it had not received any specific complaints. Bonta said the information is confidential.

The Caldor fire spanned more than 328 square miles (850 square kilometers) and was 25% contained as of Thursday. On Monday, the flames raced so rapidly towards the California resort of South Lake Tahoe that officials ordered a mass evacuation of all 22,000 residents. People across the state line in Douglas County were ordered to leave the country a day later.

The Montbleu Resort, Casino and Spa – a towering 438-room Nevada hotel just blocks from the California Line – began offering discounts for evacuees, $ 60 firefighters and first responder rates, and free accommodations for its employees .

For everyone else, room rates increased from $ 120 to $ 450 a night before taxes and fees on Tuesday.

Tim Tretton, the resort’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement Wednesday that this has deterred tourists from traveling near wildfire and keeping rooms free for evacuees. The company planned to repay the difference to those who booked at the higher cost, he said.

“We have not and do not plan to collect these fees and have given refunds or discounts where appropriate,” said Tretton.

It also became more expensive for some travelers to leave South Lake Tahoe.

A 60-mile Lyft XL ride from the resort to Reno typically costs around $ 200. It rose almost eight times on Tuesday as people rushed to strike the flames.

An angry resident shared a screenshot of the prices on Twitter showing $ 1,535 for a minivan or SUV that can carry at least five passengers. SFGate reported that the cost dropped to $ 230 at noon.

Lyft and Uber said in statements Wednesday that price jumps triggered automatic caps as demand spiked around South Lake Tahoe amid emergency evacuations. Lyft said it would “review and adjust tariffs for certain drivers affected in the area.”

“When trip requests exceed the number of drivers on the road, prime-time rates are automatically activated – increased rates designed to bring more drivers to high-demand areas,” the company said. “When we saw the impact of the evacuation order, we immediately capped Lyft prices and eventually suspended prime-time pricing.”

Uber said fares were capped in some locations on Monday after a public emergency was identified. It issued a second cap on Tuesday.

Gas stations near evacuation zones didn’t seem to have raised prices significantly this week.

Puerto Rico, Washington, DC, and 39 states have regulations to limit emergency price gouging, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Mississippi, which was partially hit by Hurricane Ida, tightened penalties in its price gouging law in 2006, months after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc and supply shortages in the first few weeks after the storm caused long queues for gasoline.

The North Carolina attorney general filed a price gouging lawsuit last week against a gas station that raised mid-range and premium gas prices to $ 9.99 a gallon after a ransomware attack hit the Colonial Pipeline – the largest fuel delivery system in the United States. had forced to close down.

Nevada’s anti-price-raising bill was passed in a party vote in May, with Democrats for and Republicans against. The law prohibits price gouging in areas where the governor has declared a state of emergency.

California law generally prohibits companies from increasing prices by more than 10% following a state or local declaration of emergency.

“If you see price gouging – or have become a victim of it – I encourage you to immediately file a complaint with my online office at oag.cag.gov/report or contact your local police or the sheriff’s office,” said Bonta .

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Sonner reports from Reno. Contributors to this report were associate press writers Olga Rodriguez and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas, and Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi. Metz is a corps member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a not-for-profit national utility that places journalists on local newsrooms to cover undercover issues.