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HADDON TWP. — If business stays the way it is, Sunny Singh said he's going to have to close his gas stations.

That's because as prices at the pump continue to soar, so do the fees Singh pays every time he accepts a credit card payment.

The 31-year-old Voorhees resident owns Speed Gas stations in Westmont and Somerdale and a station in Voorhees and is part of a growing number of station owners offering drivers an incentive to use cash -- 8 to 10 cents per gallon off the posted price.

Last year alone, the 31-year-old Voorhees resident said he was hit with almost $275,000 in credit card fees.

That figure, grouped with employee salaries, taxes and other expenses, has whittled down his profits for 2007 to less than $40,000 per location -- less than half of what he made when he launched his business more than eight years ago.

"In 1999, I made $100,000," he said. "And that was just one station."

Most credit card companies charge a 2-percent surcharge for each credit transaction, Singh said, which wasn't so bad eight years ago, when gas cost less than $1 per gallon.

But with today's average of $3.96 per gallon, Singh expects his fees for 2008 to total about $450,000.

Kasemira Singh, who owns a Valero gas station on Haddon Avenue in Westmont, said every day seems more expensive than the last. He began charging 10 cents more per gallon "three or four months ago." "We needed to change it," he said. "If not, we'll have to go out of business. I pay that fee out of my own pocket."

"I need my money back," he added.

While Sunny Singh says the cash discount helps keep customers happy, it provides little comfort to people like Brian Toal of Gloucester City.

The 29-year-old drill worker pays about $65 to fill up his pickup truck, but says his motorcycle has become his preferred mode of transportation.

Toal, who used his credit card to pay for gas Friday, said he was angry when he learned recently that he was paying more than other customers.

To address growing consumer complaints, officials in each county inspected gas stations in late May and early June to ensure retailers were complying with state rules requiring cash and credit prices to be posted separately on gas pumps.

Gloucester County inspected 40 of its roughly 87 gas stations over the last three days in May.

Hal Spence, director of the county's Office of Weights and Measures, said all of the inspected stations met price-display regulations.

And if the state Legislature has its way, gas retailers will face tougher fines if they fail to follow the rules.

Under a bill approved Monday by the Senate Transportation Committee, the fine for gas stations that fail to post the price difference would grow by $1,000. Current fines range from $1,500 to $3,000 per violation.

The law would require owners to post cash and credit prices on their large street signs, as well. Right now, state regulators only require both cash and credit prices to be posted on the pump itself.

Critics say the proposal would hurt independent retailers, such as Singh.

"You're looking at people whose annual gross profit is $35,000 a location," Eric DeGesero, executive vice president of the Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey, said last week.

DeGesero called the increase in fines "the definition of overkill." Singh passed recent inspections, but he's afraid of what would happen if he were fined.

"To be honest, it'd hurt me a lot," he said. "I'm not even making $5,000 a month."

The bill now goes to the full Senate for a vote. Retailers say they'll seek an amendment stripping the bill of its added fines.