Fuel Prices

Debate between David Mowat and Naomi Long

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Naomi Long]

I do agree with that. I also wish to point out that the price variation between petrol stations in a single constituency can sometimes completely outstrip the fuel duty, yet it often gets less attention. I wish to focus on that in my next remarks.

Over the past year, I have been monitoring the price of fuel in my constituency and in the adjoining constituencies of Strangford and North Down. I have become increasingly concerned that people in my constituency get a poor deal on petrol prices compared with those in surrounding towns such as Newtownards and Bangor, where the price of petrol and diesel can be 6p a litre cheaper. One of the reasons for that differential is the impact of supermarkets on local pricing. Although they account for only 4% of Northern Ireland forecourts, their market share is about 25%. Supermarkets such as Asda operate a quasi-national pricing policy, but others do not and that can lead to significant anomalies in the pricing between stores in the same chain, and also in the prices offered at other local retailers as a consequence.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Naomi Long]

No, because I want to finish my point, if I may. Asda does not have a national price policy, but it does have a national cap on prices, with the flexibility to reduce the price by 2p where competition is particularly fierce. However, many of the other supermarket retailers have no such constraint. Although people assume that if they purchase petrol at any Tesco or Sainsbury’s petrol station they will get the same deal—they therefore fail to shop around—that is simply not the case.

I will cite one example. At the Tesco petrol station in east Belfast, the price of petrol can be anything from 4p to 6p a litre more than at a Tesco petrol station in Bangor or Newtownards, which are about 9 miles away. In both those towns, the reduced price offered is almost certainly due to the fact that the Asda supermarkets in those towns offer petrol forecourt services, which Tesco responds to. Tesco competes with the local prices in the area but feels under no obligation to offer consumers the best value price for the commodity they are trying to purchase, which I think is wrong. The price differential is significant and has been monitored by the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, following a meeting between my colleagues and the council earlier this year. Two petrol stations owned by the same supermarket chain and less than 9 miles apart, when monitored over four months, showed a variation of 4p to 5p a litre for petrol and 5p to 6p a litre for diesel.

The justification that the petrol stations are responding to local competition is no comfort whatsoever to consumers who might have to pay £3 more to fill up at one when they could fill up for much less at another site owned by the same supermarket down the road, but they would not necessarily be aware of that. I reiterate that the focus on supermarkets is not simply to suggest that they are responsible for the problem, but it shows the lack of transparency—the opaqueness—in how petrol prices on the forecourts are reached and the lack of choice that consumers then have in making their decisions. I want transparency and openness, I support the motion, and I commend the hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) for bringing the matter before the House.