Fuel price fluctuations

[Steve L]

As arguably the top topic of discussion around the bars and barbies this weekend will be, the fuel cost of getting to your holiday destination.

As you know I've been doing my bit to campain about the artificial price hikes and the false give aways by the cheapest source's of fuel. The supermarket petrol stations. In short I found that our local Leominster super market petrol station (there's only one in our town), has been shall we say "economic with the true price of fuel".
1/ They cosistantly put 1p per day for 7 days on fuel, then gave back 1p on the 8th day (budget day)

2/ Ran a 6p off a litre sales drive if you spent £40 but increased fuel by 1p less than 24hrs after the start. Then they did another 2p upwards during the 10 day spend period. Thus rendering the fuel saving a mere 3p if you don't count the increases of 50% on their own brand 6 pack of crisps, and neumerous other little increases to the grocery bill towards the £40 spend.
3/ The final insult came on the 9th May 24hrs after the end of "the give away!!!!!", when they dropped the price 3p in one foul swoop!

Now not being one to cower into a corner, I wrote 3 strongly worded letters to my MP Bill Wiggin and our local Hereford times news paper. The newspaper chose to print all my letters verbatum. Mr Wiggin did reply to my letters but furthermore, he got the relevant ministers involved too and to respond in writing.

Finally on Friday. I got my latest reply to this issue. The matter of the manner in which the discount was quite blatently erroded by price increases and the general grocery price increases is being referred to the office of fair trading

So there we have it folks. If you make enough of a protest someone does have to be seen to be taking notice in the end.

 

[John_374564913]

It is hard to stomach the price increases on fuel and it is down to everybody to do there best to get the government to do something about it.
In the mean time I have being doing some tests of my own

1. travaling at 60 and above I average 21.2 miles to the gallon
2. travelling at 55 I get an average of around 23.6 miles to the gallon
3. travelling at 50 I get an average of 29.6 milesthe gallon

I have now decided to drive at 50 regardless of the number of trucks that overtake me on the motorway as it is the only way I can save money on fuel

 

[Steve L]

I know what you mean John.
At present I mostly drive my Rover solo.
By carefull driving I can get 45Mpg around town, and by keeping to a max of 55Mph I can get 58Mpg all day long. Go up to 60Mph and I'm down to 53 Mpg.
My OH takes the mick about me watching the fuel computer, but every penny counts these days.

But it is people taking the time to type those letters to their MP, Councillor and put a few signs in their car to show they are making a stand. Every day I see at least a dozen people read my sign in my car and chuckle. But if they took the time to E mail me they would be added to fairfueluk.com's protest site.
I urge every caravanner to log onto www.fairfueluk.com to add their support to get a fairer fuel pricing system sorted out.

 

[Dustydog]

Steve
With the low fuel warning light screaming at me , it's just cost £103.55 to fill the Sorie!!!!

 

[GeorgeandAde]

£103.55????

Wow!!!
I usually fill mine to the brim when it gets to half a tank(about £40),not so much of a shock then....lol.
I am lucky though,the CRv is averaging 38-42mpg around town/to work and back/shopping etc...
I would like to go back to a Sorrento one day though

I used to have an 05 XT,manual model.
The reason we sold it was for some reason it was only doing about 23-28 solo around town.
Someone told me that I may have had one of a bad batch which had faulty injectors(not sure if that was true but I couldnt afford to run it at the time.
Pulled like a dream and plenty of room in it.
Took a while to get used to the indicators being on the opposite side though.
Maybe one day,if I can persuade her indoors.
The CRV/Sancerre is about an 85% match where as the Sorrento would be about 68%.
Maybe.........just maybe

Adrian

 

[Surfer]

Tesco do the same. 5p off a litre but many commodities in their store go up by exactly 5p so no oen wins anyway. We seldom use Tesco for hopping these days as morrisons have better meat etc.

 

[JonnyG]

I am sorry, i dont know what this topic is about? are we saying that petrol stations cannot charge what they like for fuel? Nobody makes you buy from any specific garage you are free to drive by and use another garage asda tesco ect ect.But then i bet there still the cheapest in town or at least near dam it!!!!!!!
And to be honest what on earth are the trading standards or anybody else going to do about it?

 

[Steve L]

This might answer your questions Jonny, and answer the prayers of the remaining 99,9% of us who want a fair and clear pricing structure for fuel. Sure you can shop around and I've been doing that from the day I started driving my Morris Minor van back in 1977.
If the EU is questioning fuel prices then there must be something wrong, as the EU is renowned for being the last to react or rock the boat so to speak. However the article below from MSN might be a start.

pa.press.net, Updated: 29/05/2011 22:36Groups demand EU petrol price probe

Motoring organisations have demanded the European Union launch an investigation into soaring petrol prices
Motoring organisations across Europe have demanded the European Union launch an investigation into soaring petrol prices.
The Federation Nationale de l'Automobile (FIA), which represents 35 million drivers and counts both the AA and RAC as members, has written to the EU claiming the way prices are determined is "far from transparent".
UK petrol prices hit record levels last month as the wholesale price of oil soared, but have been much slower to come down as the price of crude oil dropped back again. A full tank for an average European car now costs over £10 more than it did a year ago.
The FIA letter calls for an inquiry into how benchmark prices are set on the Rotterdam spot market, where cargoes of petrol and diesel for the whole European market are bought and sold.
Werner Krauss, chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil said in the letter that "a platform with such a small volume is doubted to be a representative indicator for the vast European market".
Mr Krauss also wants the EU to look into the role of speculation on oil prices, adding that the FIA is very concerned about the "resulting volatility in fuel prices and negative financial impact on consumers".
Luke Bosdet, of the AA, said "No one is giving us any answers as to why petrol prices are so high. We need greater transparency so that everyone can see we are paying a fair price for fuel".
The AA wants to see an independent regulator to balance the interests of the supplier, retailer and customer.
The British Petrol Retailer's Association, which represents 6,000 petrol station owners, also expressed concern about the issue of transparency. It is to press the UK Office of Fair Trading to look into whether its members are getting a fair deal.
Hopefully if enough of us mere mortals keep nagging mp's and exposing false selling practice and writing to the office of fair trading, we as a collective might make that difference.

 

[JonnyG]

Thanks steve i wish it did answer my question, but it doesn't. you were asking why a certain garage, supermarket was adding a penny here and there, and NOT WHY THE WHOLE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY SEEMS CORRUPT.
Slight difference really, and to the newer question one could add the whole power industry to that list too..

 

[seth1]

I take my hat of to you Steve,i think everyone would enjoy cheaper fuel but i dont think things would reverse now,the government needs income.
Personally i just dont have the time to respond to a campaign or write an email most probably like other people.But its not just fuel that has massively increased in price,look at the price of a loaf of bread, but we dont see posters in the back of cars about this.
Its a matter of grinning and bearing it or sell the lot and resort back to walking.Were all in the same boat.
I get bored of hearing about it but that is not to say people are not entitled to speak about it.There are other ways of obtaining fuel which are totally legal but require outlay up front and are available to everyone.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Seth your reply poses an intersting question. Please explaine your legal method of obtaining fuel by paying up front

 

[seth1]

By means of buying in bulk.

 

[Lutz]

Interesting article, Steve. There may be some connection with an investigation carried out for the same reason by the Federal Cartel Office on behalf of German government. After a year-long study they came to the conclusion that although the oil companies cannot be accused of collusion in respect of price fixing, each of the big five react immediately by matching any price change. As a result, there is no competition between the big oil companies and the smaller ones need to follow suit because their market share is too small to make a difference. I believe that economists call this an oligopoly.
Frankly, I think every man in the street would have come to the same conclusion without the need for a year-long study which probably cost the earth to carry out and at the tax-payer's expense.

 

[JonnyG]

By means of buying in bulk.

Yea but seth that is totally impractical for an individual to do, we as a small haulier keep a monthly top up of about 8000 litres, the saving is about 6 to 9p a litre and of course we get the vat back too.And we use that fuel in the month so prices shouldn't go up or down too much hopefully.
But a private person doing that and having to buy bulk and keep it for months on end, could actually loose out if at some point fuel at the pumps dropped.

 

[seth1]

Quite right and i could,nt agree more.But even so it is quite possibly for the average person to use a fuel card.Thus not requiring storeage.At the moment the company i use is 109pence per litre.I now find this getting expensive,so have looked at 1000litre IBC bunded container.One bulk delievery of Bio @ 83pence per litre.No problems up to now.

 

[JonnyG]

That sounds like a far better option seth, the Bio at 83p, as an individual that sounds quite appealing as i cannot see me making the dam stuff, which i suppose is another option.

 

[seth1]

Its a very good option.Regards to manufacturing it yourself,i done a bit of research a while back and came up with,the cost to manufacture it worked out at if i remember rightly 14pence a litre.The actual machine which looked like it consisted of cylinders and bits and bobs cost 1200 pounds.This could handle 100 litres per hour.The government stipulate a maximum of 2500litres can be made and sold before taxation comes into play.I suspect this would be hard for them to govern.My only other concern is where a constant supply of sunflower oil would come from.Then of course would you want your garage turned into a refinery.

 

[Surfer]

If the cost of fuel increases in realtion the cost of commodities like bread will also increase. Whether we like it or not, the cost of fule affects your standard of living. Although you may only see a £10 difference in the cost of a full tank and shrug it off, what peopel tend to forget is that in addition to many other things, the cost of the groceries has also increased! Cost of fuel has a very definte impact on inflation and the Retail price Index with the latter determing council tax/ government tax increasees / spending etc.