The City Council wants to keep the price right.

New York could become the nation’s first city to ban a “predatory” algorithm-fueled pricing scheme that exploits personal data to charge different people varying prices for the same product.

A pair of new bills would block stores from using “surveillance pricing” on New York shoppers and also ban “dynamic pricing,” a similar practice where stores use algorithms to change prices based on trends and demand.

Surveillance pricing is frequently used by online retailers like Amazon or Instacart, while dynamic pricing has been employed at the likes of grocery stores – and both have left customers feeling gouged to find out not everybody is shown the same price.

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It’s an unfairness the bills’ sponsors — Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Leader Shaun Abreu – think New Yorkers shouldn’t have to contend with, especially as an affordability crisis is already pushing people’s bank accounts to the brink.

“New Yorkers deserve transparency and fairness when purchasing essential goods, and the Council will make New York the first city in the country to take a strong stand against predatory surveillance and exploitative dynamic pricing practices,” Menin said while introducing the bills Thursday.

Tactics that would be banned under the bills include using shoppers’ locations, movements, browsing history or past purchases to tailor a higher price than others might receive.

Increased use of artificial intelligence by corporations has made such individualized pricing tactics increasingly common across retailers, recent studies have shown.

For example, some Instacart users shopping at an Ohio Target last year were charged $2.99 for a jar of Skippy Peanut Butter – while other shoppers on the app were charged $3.59, a Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative study found.

But it’s not just shopping apps – grocery stores like Whole Foods and Kroger have started using algorithms to tailor pricing, while the likes of convenience stores, museums and zoos have also been found rolling out the tactics.

The City Council’s proposed ban would still allow discounts for certain groups like seniors, students or low-income customers so long as the rules are made clear to everyone.

Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft – notorious for their shifting prices – would have to adhere to surveillance pricing laws, although the change would not affect the companies’ demand-based pricing.

The dynamic pricing ban – sponsored by Abreu — would bar grocery stores from raising the price of an item more than once in a 24 hour period, a practice which has become increasingly frequent at stores where paper price tags have been replaced with electronic shelf displays.

“Groceries are already expensive enough, and nobody should have to worry about the price going up when they’re still shopping,” Abreu said.

Both bills are framed as early steps to protect consumers before these technologies become more widespread.

“Corporations have algorithms and AI. Shoppers have a cart and a budget,” Abreu said. “We are acting now to protect New Yorkers before the technology gets ahead of the law.”