Advertisement New pipeline segment complete after leak led to gas shortage, officials say Upstate gas stations out of gas; prices rise Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The latest: The pipeline company working to repair a leak that led to gas shortages and higher prices for drivers across the South says its bypass repair is complete and it expects to restart its main gasoline line Wednesday.Colonial Pipeline spokesman Steve Baker tells The Associated Press that testing is now being done on the line.Baker said crews have been working around the clock to get fuel to markets, and that it will take a few days for the fuel supply chain to fully recover after the line restarts.The 500-foot (152- meter)bypass was needed to move fuel around the leak of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama. The leak, which spilled 6,000 barrels of gasoline into a detention pond, was detected Sept. 9.Previous story: The auto club AAA reports that gas prices continue to climb in several southern states after a pipeline leak in Alabama slowed the flow of fuel across the South.AAA reports that in Georgia, Tuesday's average price for regular gas rose nearly 5 cents since Monday, to an average $2.36 statewide - up nearly 27 cents over the past week. The price has climbed nearly 7 cents since Monday in the Macon and Augusta areas.Price gouging law in effect in NCSouth Carolina saw an average price rise of nearly 4 cents from Monday to Tuesday - up nearly 18 cents from a week ago. The Columbia, South Carolina area saw prices rise about 6 cents since Monday.AAA reports Tuesday that Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw prices climb since Monday.Latest on pipeline repairThe break in the Colonial Pipeline was discovered Sept. 9 and interrupted service to Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The pipeline company working to repair the break says it has worked around the clock on a plan to minimize disruptions to the region's gas supply.In a statement Monday afternoon, Colonial officials said, "Colonial is currently shipping significant volumes of gasoline on Line 2, the distillate mainline, to help mitigate the impact of the service interruption to Line 1.These changes have allowed all origins and delivery markets to be served along the entire system, albeit in a more reduced capacity."Fuel supplies in five states were threatened by the Alabama pipeline spill last week.North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama are under a state of emergency due to the interruption in supply.Why you shouldn't panic about increase in gas pricesSouth Carolina outages Quik Trip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said several stations in South Carolina are seeing gas outages."When you have a pipeline of that magnitude go down, it just shows everybody unfortunately how fragile the system is and it doesn't take much to cause some hiccups," he said.A Quik Trip on N. Pleasantburg Drive in Greenville was out of gas for roughly 20 hours over the weekend, employees said.Viewers have been commenting online to WYFF News 4 with reports of gas shortages and higher prices across the Upstate and Western North Carolina."It's very frustrating," April Young said.According to AAA Carolinas, the price of a gallon of gas in South Carolina has gone up 13 cents since the same time last week. North Carolina price gouging law in effectNorth Carolina's consumer protection watchdog is getting reports of potential gas price gouging as the state's gas stations report running low because of a leaking pipeline in Alabama.Attorney General Roy Cooper on Monday urged North Carolina consumers to report gas prices that seem unreasonably high. North Carolina's law against price gouging is currently in effect. As of 11 a.m. Monday, more than 400 consumers had filed complaints online or via a toll-free hotline to report potential gas price gouging to Cooper's Consumer Protection Division.Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley said investigators are checking reports of gas being sold at $5.89 a gallon and another report of gas being offered at more than $4 a gallon.Talley says a station north of Winston-Salem advertised a price of $9.99 a gallon, but that was after it had run out of gas."Consumers are our eyes and ears on the ground and we want to know if you spot potential gas price gouging," Cooper said.A North Carolina law makes it illegal to overly inflate prices for critical goods and services during the emergency or abnormal market disruption declared on Friday. Violators can be fined up to $5,000.To report price gouging in North Carolina, click here. Georgia gas prices on the riseGas prices are on the rise in Georgia.Overnight, AAA reported that the price of regular gas in Georgia jumped more than 5 cents from Sunday's average of $2.26 to the current average of just over $2.31.The average price of regular gas in Georgia a week ago was around $2.10, AAA reported.The national average price for regular gas in the U.S. on Monday is just over $2.20.Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has issued an executive order aimed at preventing price gouging by merchants amid some gas shortages caused by a recent pipeline break.In the order signed Monday morning, Deal said there have been recent reports that wholesale and retail gas prices have "substantially increased" in some markets.The governor said in the order that price gouging is harmful to the social and economic welfare of Georgia residents, and issued the order prohibiting the practice.Gov. Haley issues executive orderSouth Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley issued an executive order because of the emergency in Georgia.The order states that an emergency exists in South Carolina because of the Georgia state of emergency. Haley directs the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the Department of Public Safety and the State Transit Police to suspend the federal rules and regulations that limit the hours operators of commercial vehicles may drive in order to ensure the uninterrupted supply of gasoline.Read the entire executive order here.Other executive orders temporarily waive restrictions on the weight of each truck, allowing drivers to carry more fuel. Spinx issues statement Spinx officials released a statement Friday about the spill, saying in part, "In this instance, we feel fortunate that Spinx’s fuel supply chain has been largely unaffected by this temporary pipeline closure. "Therefore, we are confident in our ability to keep our customers adequately supplied throughout the expected duration of this disruption. Although we’ve experienced some upward pressure on retail fuel prices due to today’s announcements, retail prices have stayed very competitive as no retailer, particularly Spinx, wants to raise their prices and risk losing customers."