Reports broke out Tuesday of a "mystery surcharge" on gasoline in California, costing drivers up to 20 cents extra a gallon at the pump.
With California sustaining the top spot in fuel costs in the nation, lawmakers are beginning to take notice and are demanding answers about the increasing costs.
A committee working on behalf of the California Energy Commission first discovered the surcharge in September 2017.
Now, nineteen Democrats have grown suspicious of the charge, sending a letter to Attorney General Xavier Becerra asking him to lead an investigation, the slotribune reports.
“There is a surcharge that began showing up between refineries and our gas tanks in the distribution and retailing network in California that began in California in 2015,” said Assemblyman Marc Levine.
UC Berkeley Professor Severin Borenstein chaired the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, which authored the report for the state’s energy commission .
In the report, Borenstein said "even when accounting for California’s gasoline tax and greenhouse gas reduction costs, prices have exhibited a continuous and unexplained differential compared to the rest of the country.”
Becerra has reportedly not commented on the potential investigation as of yet.
Professor Borenstein will join the show today at 5:00 p.m. with more on the suspicious charge.
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