You were saying earlier that there have not been very many charges laid. We can therefore quite easily presume, especially in the case of gas retailers, given the fact that the volume is not that high, that there are perhaps few retailers with bad intentions and wishing to defraud people. In fact, the deviation or the correction at the pump would have to be rather sizeable in order for it to be a paying proposition. The retailer or the corner store owner is not going to start playing around with that. In brief, the problem is mainly mechanical: breakage can occur more quickly than normal or be brought about by insufficient maintenance.
Lastly, the monetary penalties that you want to impose are more aimed at instilling fear in people. One would really have to act in very bad faith in order to be handed a certain penalty. There is great potential — like what you call “transaction": the minister may provide a partial reduction or the complete cancellation of a penalty.
This leads me to the matter of review by the minister. If someone is facing a fine, he or she may contest it. One may, before the minister, invoke the principle of the balance of probabilities: the minister could determine whether or not there has been a violation on a balance of probabilities. What does that mean?