North Carolina’s Price Gouging Law in Effect After Tropical Storm Chantal

RALEIGH – Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced that the state’s price gouging law is in effect in the 13 counties heavily impacted by Tropical Storm Chantal’s heavy rains and flooding. Governor Josh Stein declared a state of emergency for the affected counties earlier today. The price gouging law makes it unlawful for businesses or sellers to charge excessively high prices during a crisis. North Carolinians can report price gouging to the Department of Justice at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or www.ncdoj.gov/pricegouging.

“Chantal caused major flooding and damage in central North Carolina and opened the door for potential price gouging scams,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “If you see a business charging more for essential goods or services than they should, file a complaint with our office right away. We will do everything we can to hold bad actors responsible.”

In some cases, businesses need to increase prices so they can offset rising costs and the effects of critical incidents on their industry. But businesses can’t unreasonably raise prices to increase their own profit, and they should disclose any reasonable increases to customers before they buy.

North Carolina’s price gouging law goes into effect when the governor declares a state of emergency. The current State of Emergency covers the following counties: Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person, Randolph, and Wake. The declaration was issued on July 17, 2025, and will be in effect for 30 days.

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