CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Although rare, mechanical problems at the fuel dispenser can throw off gasoline pricing by as much as 7.8 cents on a $2.99 per gallon purchase of gasoline, reports the Charleston Daily Mail. 

According to John Junkins, director of West Virginia's office of weights and measures, each year mechanical problems throw a wrench in about 5 percent of the state's 3,000 gasoline pumps. He told the newspaper that his estimate is "pretty consistent," but says the problem is not rampant and that retailers make routine checks to correct inaccuracies and oftentimes issue refunds when errors occur.

Junkins adds that mal-calibrated dispensers can also show less fuel than what is actually going out. "Just as often, it's not shorting the consumer, it's shorting the seller too," he told the newspaper. "It's kind of a push-shove thing."
 
Meanwhile, the older analog dispensers can be inaccurate "just as much as the digital ones," according to Junkins, adding that dispensers at the busier retail locations tend to have the most trouble.
 
"The more that a station pumps gallon-wise, the more wear you're going to have," Junkins told the newspaper. "The big producers are more apt to be checking their stations on a regular basis."
 
So, if a consumer finds that they have been overcharged, Junkins notes that there is probably "nothing nefarious going on" and that state retailers have a history "of being honest."
 
"Anything mechanical has a tendency to break…. There's no intent there. It's just a mechanical problem," Junkins told the newspaper, noting that he could not recall the last time a retailer in the state "was caught cheating customers."