The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - Some city officials in Lexington are considering an ordinance that would prohibit price-gouging practices during a state of emergency.

The ordinance would make it easier to prosecute companies for charging more than 20 percent above their regular price, said Urban County Councilman Bill Cegelka. The council will listen to residents' price-gouging allegations today at the council's services committee meeting.

A city investigation has netted about 15 complaints of overcharging during the ice storm, Cegelka said. One case involved a woman who paid $2,400 to have two trees removed.

Cegelka also is trying to round up people who paid too much for generators, hotel rooms and other items or services needed during the storm.

Richard Atwell, a Gaines way-area resident whose large tree looked like it would collapse his roof, was asked to pay $475 after men from Pierz, Minn., worked on his yard for about half an hour, he said. Atwell instantly assumed he was being taken but wrote the check anyway.

"It bothers me that people are coming in from out of the state to apparently take advantage of our residents in a time of crisis," Cegelka said. "It's pretty clear that these people are doing this for a living."

Kentucky does not have a specific price-gouging law, but the consumer protection act does prohibit "unconscionable" business practices.

Such ambiguity, Cegelka said, means that "what's unconscionable is up for debate."