#PETROL STATIONS GENERATOR#

Especially at a time when public coffers are in good shape.PARIS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Roughly one in five petrol stations throughout France is not being supplied as it should and strategic oil reserves will likely be used at the weekend, the country's energy minister said as strikes at four TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) refineries continue for a tenth day. Having two cars per household is part and parcel of living where no alternative transport is accessible or available. Verona Murphy, Independent TD for Wexford and former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said she was 'disgusted' the Government was letting the excise cut lapse, saying: 'Most people are not able to sustain this increase, in particular rural-dwellers. The idea of charging 5c more? It is just bad business,' he said. When you drive to a service station, if you don't like the price, you keep on going. If I spend €100 on petrol or diesel, newspaper and coffee, they will make more on that, so price on fuel is very competitive to get people into the shop.

#PETROL STATIONS GENERATOR#

In very many cases, fuel is just a footfall generator for the shop. If an individual site can sell lower, they will do so. There's no incentive for people to try and skelp the consumer. 'If one station can sell at 5c less per litre, then everyone locally will know about it. Mr McPartlan said competitive pricing on fuel means it 'makes sense' not to increase prices. However, Mr McPartlan said due to the 'highly competitive' nature of fuel pricing, he believed it would be 'bad business' for garages to rush to up their prices. 'If you are a garage that is taking its first delivery of wholesale duty on June 1 then the price will be higher.' 'The national average price should increase in line with the price to decrease it doesn't mean every single garage would move slowly,' he said. He said because there has been a long lead-in time to the change, he would expect petrol stations to 'stock up' in advance of prices being hiked but this might not happen across the board.ĭrivers are paying around €1.56 a litre for petrol and €1.45 for diesel but were shelling out more than €2 last summer. Kevin McPartlan of Fuels for Ireland, which represents the major fuel retailers, said: 'When it was announced that the excise was going to be decreased, there was almost no notice. 'There are currently no plans to amend or extend the reductions,' the spokesman added. Latest figures show that the Government missed out on €700million in excise from when the reductions were introduced last year to February this year. However, the Government is strongly of the view that consumers should be treated fairly in relation to how this matter is handled.' A Department of Finance spokesman said: 'Individual retailers have autonomy in setting prices and, therefore the Government has no influence on how this excise tax is passed on. Senior Government figures said if fuel prices were slow to come down, they should be slow to go back up. While the CCPC found that Government or agencies such as the CCPC or Revenue and Customs had little power to police the forthcoming price change, there is a strong belief in the Government that retailers should treat customers fairly.įuel prices will increase next month when cost-of-living State supports to reduce petrol and diesel prices end. It said it found no evidence of stations illegally co-ordinating prices or a lack of competition across the State in its analysis of the period from March 2 to March 20 last year. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) received more than 200 complaints from motorists who saw pump prices rise despite the Government's duty cut.Ī CCPC investigation found that 'the excise cut was largely passed on to consumers, although not instantly'. One opposition TD has said she is 'disgusted' that the Government is letting the fuel duty cuts lapse, while it has emerged there was a significant 'delay' in passing on the initial price reductions to drivers, leading to a flurry of complaints. Petrol stations have been warned not to pass on next month's fuel duty increase, with Government figures saying that because prices were slow to come down, they should be slow to go back up.