It doesn't matter whether you're gouging or not, if you don't get paid at all. In fact, the party who "sold" the gas is the one getting ripped off.
I sure wish the companies being stiffed would come out with an accounting of their California accounts receivable.
BTW, the Defense Production Act is the one that Nixon used to impose wage and price controls. It was re-authorized in 2001, with no significant changes that I could see. I guess Sen. Gramm was not persuasive.