Petrol prices highest in a decade and rising

Seán McCárthaigh

One garage near Limerick city was yesterday charging 116.2 cent for a litre of unleaded petrol as the national average price has now risen to 105.3c. The average price for diesel is just slightly lower at 105c per litre.

The latest increase means some Limerick motorists could be paying over 10% over the national average for a litre of petrol.

Although the vast majority of motorists are now paying more for their petrol than at any time over the past decade, it is still possible to buy petrol for less than 1 a litre in some parts of the country.

The Shell petrol station on the Dock Road in Ferrybank, Co Waterford, and the Amber station in Charleville, Co Cork, are still only charging 99.9c per litre.

AA Ireland spokesperson Conor Faughnan said the general level of pump prices in service stations had tracked the recent increases in the cost of crude oil.

Energy prices in the Republic have risen by 8.3% since the start of the year, even though annual inflation stands at just 2.2%.

The increase reflects the fact that the price of a barrel of crude oil has recently broken through the magical $60 figure.

The AA has also warned motorists to expect further increases due to continuing high demand for fuel from emerging economies like China and India and a strengthening of the dollar against the euro.

However, Mr Faughnan said there were significant variations in the prices charged for petrol at the forecourt which could not be explained by rising costs internationally.

“It is quite clear that price competition is not as intense in some parts of the country as others,” he said.

He claimed there appeared to be a lack of competition in Border counties, in contrast to areas like Cork and Kerry where there seemed to be strong price promotions between retailers to win customers.

“Our constant advice to motorists is to shop around and to be aware that prices do differ between service stations,” said Mr Faughnan.

While the cost of petrol in Ireland remains relatively low compared to many EU countries, AA Ireland points out that the general cost of motoring remains quite high due to higher taxes for motor insurance and VRT.

Earlier this year, the Competition Authority admitted it had limited powers to tackle the problem of retail outlets, such as petrol stations, in the same locality charging identical prices.

It explained that it could not launch a formal investigation into examples of “parallel pricing” unless there was prima facie evidence to suggest there was collusion on prices between retailers.