ORLANDO, Fla. -- An "alarming" number of price-gouging complaints are being reported in Florida, including apparent spikes in prices for flashlight batteries, according to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The amount of gouging reports has surprised McCollum.

"I am concerned," McCollum said during a news conference Monday. "Twenty-one calls are quite large, it seems to me for this storm when we've just begun the process of seeing it begin to come ashore and it is a relatively minor storm up to this point. It does alarm me."

The complaints could include gas, food and water.

"(People) need to know if they are seeing a price increase that is dramatically different -- that there is a gross disparity is the technical term -- from what it was during the last 30 days in any product in gas, food, water," McCollum said. "We got call on batteries for your flashlights among these calls."

Anyone found charging an additional price during a state of emergency faces a $1,000-an-incident fine.

"That can add up pretty quickly if you think how many different times people go up to a gas pump or go into a store and buy batteries or what ever it happens to be." McCollum said.

Floridians were urged to call a hot line 1-866-9-NO SCAM to report incidents of price gouging.

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