ALBANY - Three gas stations across the state are accused of jacking up the cost of a typical fill-up from $2 to $13 immediately after Hurricane Katrina.

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is suing the Penn-Can Truck Stop Mobil in Central Square, Oswego County; My Service Station in New Rochelle, Westchester County; and Schaghticoke Mobil in Rensselaer County.

The stations were notified of the civil lawsuits beginning Friday.

If found liable, the stations could face penalties based on excess profits.

Spitzer said the stations increased their at-the-pump prices by 25 percent to 72 percent for gas already in their holding facilities.

He said the Oswego station increased the pump price by 19 cents per gallon, the Westchester station increased its price by 32 cents; and the Rensselaer County station increased its price by 90 cents per gallon

My Service Station owner/manager Danny Chianciulli denied any price gouging. He said he only raised prices when his supplier raised its prices. His attorney, Adam Peska, said the oil companies and wholesalers were gouging, not the smaller retailers.

Peska said his client had to “increase prices considerably” to cover the cost of his next delivery and lost money in the days following Katrina.

State law prohibits the sale of “vital consumer goods” at an “unconscionably excessive price during natural disasters,” according to Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee.

The lawsuits announced this week follows Spitzer's action in December in which 15 gas stations statewide, including three controlled by oil companies, were fined $63,000 for marking up profits 25 percent or more immediately after the Hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast in late August.

Spitzer said the post-Katrina price jumps were the largest in history for gasoline.

“We continue to believe that the state needs a clearer and stronger statute to deter price gouging,” Spitzer said.