With record-setting fuel prices fresh in most drivers memories, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has signed a bill into law toughening the state’s price-gouging law for motor fuels and other energy products.

The new rule expands existing state law in three main areas.

Part of a larger energy bill, the gouging measure doubles the penalties for price gouging to $10,000, per occurrence. It also extends the prohibition on gouging to include natural gas and electricity.

Connecticut law previously prohibited gouging on goods and services, such as gasoline and diesel.

In addition, the new law, previously SB2100, expands the price-gouging law to take effect during anticipated or perceived market threats, such as hurricanes.

Previously, state law only applied during periods of abnormal market disruptions, not in anticipation of them.

Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said the new rule is more broadly designed to allow officials to evaluate the entire energy market chain, from retailers to wholesalers on up to oil companies.

“Disasters must not be compounded by profiteering. It’s unconscionable to allow some to exploit tragedies by unnecessarily increasing prices for financial gain,” Williams said in a recent written statement.