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Gas companies may be getting a present from the state just in time from Christmas.

Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson plans to finish his gas price gouging investigations next week and hand out Christmas present fines to any company that ripped off customers. The investigations started in September after drivers began complaining about five dollar a gallon gas. Gas stations blame the price hike on Hurricane Ike disrupting supply in the Gulf. Commissioner Bronson said he has problems believing that excuse.

“Can you imagine almost five dollar gasoline just a few weeks ago and now it’s down to $1.80. I find that kind of hard to believe that if it’s really worth five dollars it could have dropped this fast. So it tells me that somebody was manipulating the system after an emergency was called and we take that seriously,” said Bronson.

The state’s Attorney General is also investigating complaints. In October the AG’s office settled with a Quincy gas station for overcharging customers a total of 1,500 bucks.