Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. today announced that the New York State Assembly has passed his legislation to prohibit unfair zone pricing of gasoline based on geographical location (A.4112) by a vote of 110-37. "Zone pricing" refers to the establishment of price differences based solely on the location of the retail outlet within the relevant geographic market, without regard to the posted terminal price and any additional costs, where the effect is to injure competition.

In 2008, New York State passed the first law in the country to outlaw the practice of gasoline zone pricing. Since that time,the law has been difficult to enforce. The vague definition of these terms in current law has hindered enforcement of the zone pricing law since its enactment. Thiele’s bill (A.4112) would enact the recommendations of a 2011 State Attorney General report to clarify the statute outlawing this practice. This legislation clearly defines the “relevant geographic market” and addresses the issue of "arbitrary" price differences.

Zone pricing occurs in many areas across the state, and the South Fork of Long Island has been an area where consumers have been significantly impacted by this practice.

Thiele stated, “There is no question that the ‘Big Oil’ special interests are using their market power to arbitrarily fix gasoline prices without regard to the actual cost of a gallon of gasoline. We see this daily on the South Fork where gasoline prices can be 10-20 cents higher than surrounding areas, and sometimes as much as 50 cents higher. There is no relationship between these price differentials and actual gasoline costs.Such pricing fixing also happens in other areas of the state where competition may be sparse because the area is rural or less affluent and effective competition does not exist. This legislation would prohibit ‘Big Oil’ from price fixing based on geography and would require that prices reflect the real cost of a gallon of gasoline. The legislation is supported by consumers as well as local gasoline retailers who are at the mercy of power producers and distributors, who dictate prices to the retailers. This bill would give the public a real remedy to fight the non-competitive actions of the oil lobby. The State Assembly has repeatedly passed my bill. I implore the State Senate to finally act on this important consumer protection measure.”

The bill is now before the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.