Energy Company Punishment?

[The Watcher]

Anyone notice the increase in gas this week?

I filled my tank on Monday at $3.59 (North Petaluma Blvd). I noticed on Thursday that the price was up to 3.85 at the same station.

Then I recalled that BP was "fined" ~$11b and Chevron "fined" ~$1m.

Now I know people are going to say, "the price of gas is about supply and demand" but doesn't it seem like whenever an energy company is "fined" the price of said energy goes up?

Examples:

* Chevron and Valero (sp?) have "accidents" at their refineries
then the price jumped.

* PG&E doesn't maintain their pipelines for decades, explosion,
people killed, and now the price of home energy is set to go up.

So the questions in my head is where do these "fines" go? And doesn't it seem like whenever a government entity "punishes" a company that "punishment" is passed along to us? If true, then who's REALLY being punished?

Here's an idea: When the government "fines" an energy company the "finee" has to drop their prices to 25% below market prices for a year. That would help us, prolly help the company (gotta imagine people would be lined up for gas at 25% less), and prolly drive the overall market down.

Just a thought.