Minister resumes petrol war

Press, 25 August 1988, Page 8

Minister resumes petrol war

PA Wellington The Minister of Energy, Mr Butcher, has resumed his campaign for more competitive petrol pricing, saying petrol prices are lower in; Christchurch than in other main centres.

When the Government deregulated the petrol industry earlier this year, it said the public would benefit from cheaper petrol. The results have so far been mixed and Mr Butcher has been urging people to shop around for cheaper petrol to encourage competition.

The Ministry of Energy has now made two informal petrol price surveys as part of this effort.

“With prices on average 1c to 1.5 c higher than in Christchurch, and with higher maximum prices, Auckland and Dupedin

service stations should explain why,” Mr Butcher said after releasing the second survey yesterday. “Dunedin motorists appear to be getting a particularly bad deal with prices high over all. “There may be good reasons for this. If so, those reasons should be shared with the motoring public,” he said.

Primary responsibility for ensuring that petrol wholesalers and service stations competed lay with motorists themselves, Mr Butcher said. “If motorists don’t support price competitive stations, they will have only themselves to blame when prices start creeping up.”, .* Mr Butcher urged motorists, where possible, not to buy petrol costing

90c a litre or more. “I accept that many factors affect the price, such as self-service and full service. However, petrol is petrol, and unless one is receiving exemplary service, 90c a litre is just too much to pay.” The price margin between premium petrol and unleaded is now about 2c a litre which is about 1c a litre less than the margin under price control.

But Mr Butcher disputed earlier claims that this, or any other factor, was having a disastrous effect on sales of unleaded petrol, which is now about 7 per cent of the total.

The president of the Christchurch branch of the Motor Trade Association, Mr Jack Pearcy, said that. “cheapest isn’t al-

ways the best.” He said that petrol was cheaper in Christchurch than in other centres for many reasons, but mainly . because of the geographic

layout and the increase in Christchurch service stations changing hands. “It is more competitive in Christchurch than anywhere in New Zealand,” Mr Pearcy said. Although the prices were lower in Christchurch, they did not compensate for the number of service station attendants now unemployed as a result of lower prices. “It is definitely more beneficial to the customer but unemployment had been helped by the dower prices,” Mr Pearcy said. The lower prices paid off for the customer who spent $5O but there was no real benefit to the customer wanting $5 of petrol.

“It is worth wasting a cupful to shop around for $5O but . . not for the $5 buyer,” Mr Pearcy said.