‘If you don’t like the price, put a cap on it’ say station owners

By Peter Stevenson

IF THE Commerce Ministry is unhappy with what petrol stations are charging at the pumps then it should set a price cap, the head of the station owners’ association Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.

Responding to a monthly survey issued by the Ministry showing that despite fuel suppliers charging 1.5 cents less from January 24, half the petrol stations had not reduced their prices, Stefanou said that “every petrol station has its own policies so it is not possible to check who has raised their prices and who has reduced them.

“In some areas and due to competition, some operators have reduced their prices to three cents lower than the rest,” he said.

Stefanou explained that some petrol stations had already reduced their prices in order to attract more business, but would not have been able to reduce cut prices any further.

“Our industry has a roughly a five cent profit margin so if we were to reduce prices further we would be operating at a loss,” he said.

He added that some petrol stations try to operate with a ten cent profit margin but it is a free market and the public can choose whichever petrol station they want.

There are a total of 286 petrol stations but based on the population size there should only be 177, which means people have more of a choice, Stefanou explained.

“Generally, when there is a reduction in price from suppliers then petrol stations reduce their prices too and vice versa, but some stations’ operating costs can be higher or lower depending on the size and whatever services they offer, so according to that the price can go up and down,” he said.