The number of price-gouging complaints to the state Office of Consumer Protection has doubled over the past few days.

The state placed a freeze on the price of consumer goods in Hawaii through at least Friday in an effort to prevent price gouging related to Tropical Storm Iselle and Hurricane Julio. However, the office received roughly 40 emails and calls about what residents perceive to be unreasonably higher prices, a practice prohibited during a state emergency.

"It’s still like in a state of flux. People are still reporting these things to us," said Bruce Kim, the Consumer Protection Office’s executive director, on Monday. "We’re starting to look into some of the reports we’ve been getting. The most important thing was to get out the information to both the public and merchants about what the price-gouging law required so that everyone was aware of what was supposed to happen."

Price gouging is defined as increases in the cost of vital consumer goods such as food, water, ice, gasoline, cooking fuel, batteries and generators. The law prohibiting unfair and deceptive acts and practices allows the Office of Consumer Protection to impose fines and penalties ranging from $500 to $10,000 per violation.

Retailers such as Longs Drugs, Walgreens, Foodland and Walmart said last week it is not their policy to raise prices in a crisis. Many of their stores periodically ran out of bottled water as panicked consumers bought out stock. That’s when some customers began purchasing single-unit priced bottles by the case, which added up to a substantially higher price than what one would normally pay for a case of water.

Penalizing retailers for raising prices when demand increases is counterproductive, according to one local economist. If retailers are allowed to increase prices, it discourages consumers from hoarding goods and encourages suppliers to ramp up production. Both of those responses help get goods to the people who need them most.

"The law against so-called ‘price gouging’ and the misguided postures of the Office of Consumer Protection and the attorney general are all examples of bad economic public policy that reduces social welfare," said Paul Brewbaker, principal of TZ Economics. "Disallowing a rising price response to sudden scarcity encourages excessive hoarding, precludes consumers whose needs are the most acute (and are willing to pay more), and discourages the supply response that will diminish the scarcity."

To report price gouging on Oahu, call 587-4272. Neighbor island residents can call these numbers followed by 7-4272 and the # sign: Kauai, 274-3141; Maui, 984-2400; Hawaii island, 974-4000; and 800-468-4644 on Molo­kai and Lanai.