ALMOST 60 per cent of the garages surveyed two weeks ago by Deputy Michael Noonan have dropped the price of diesel below the one euro per litre selling price, and of those selling petrol above the one euro mark, 41 per cent have decreased the price.
The FG deputy argues that since publication of his survey, there have been significant price decreases.
In response, one station owner told the Post that daily price fluctuations in forecourts was not unusual.
“If we take delivery at prices which appertained at the day of delivery, we price the products accordingly. Those prices remain in place until next delivery, and if there is a reduction in the price of oil in the intervening period, then we alter our forecourt prices accordingly That would account for the difference in the two surveys conducted by Mr Noonan, which after all, were a fortnight apart”.
According to deputy Noonan, “In one particular garage, following publication of the survey, in one day, a garage was able to drop its price on a litre of petrol by four cents from 103.9 to 99.9, and also drop the price of a litre of diesel from 105.9 to 99.9, a decrease of six cent on the litre.
“I am amazed that in some garages the price of a litre of diesel has dropped a full seven cents in one day, while in other garages they could drop the price by six cents in one day and the same can be said of petrol, with some garages dropping the price by six cents in one day alone.“
Mr Noonan says that when the survey was carried out there were 57 per cent of garages selling a litre of petrol above one euro per litre but that since publication of the survey, there are now almost 75 per cent of all the garages selling a litre of petrol at below the one euro.
“In relation to diesel, when we took the survey, only 50 per cent of the garages were selling a litre at below the one euro mark – now 75 per cent are selling it at below the one euro mark.”
Delighted that the survey “appears to have had the desired result,” Mr Noonan says: “it made no sense to me that so many of the garages right across the city were all charging very different prices with some being only a few hundred yards apart”.
