Price war looms as petrol drops below €1 mark
The Consumers Association of Ireland said motorists across the country should begin to feel the results of competitors benefiting from lower wholesale costs.
The AA’s Conor Faughnan also said further reductions in fuel prices were expected over the coming weeks.
“You could say the reduction is in the post. We welcome the station’s move in Offaly, one of the first to break the barrier, and are hearing of others out there also dropping their prices below a euro.”
Six service stations — in counties Monaghan, Galway, Donegal and three in Offaly — were listed on independent website pumps.ie as selling petrol at 99.9c.
A further 12 kept sales under 103.9c a litre, while another two sold fuel under 104.7c.
However, the site listed the average price for petrol this week at 107.9c while diesel was 109.9c.
The AA said prices at the pumps are averaging about €1.07, a drop from €1.13 for a litre last week.
The AA said it had received reports of other service stations in Arklow, Kerry and Cork also reducing their fuel costs below a euro.
The fall in prices comes as international oil costs continued to tumble yesterday with prices falling below $50 a barrel for the first time in two years.
Aurimas Ruskys, manager of the Applegreen service station in Birr, Co Offaly, said last night that up to 2,000 motorists had visited the site since the price dropped to 99.9c.
“We’ve had lots of calls also with people saying ‘have you really dropped the price below a euro?” said Mr Ruskys.
But consumers could expect still even more knock-on benefits from the drop in oil prices, the AA said last night.
The CAI’s Dermot Jewell said the lower prices on the pumps appeared around the border regions yesterday.
“To all intents and purposes a price war has started there south of the border, went above the border, and is now starting to spread back down the country which is positive,” he said.
“It’s good news for consumers for the moment anyway.
“The important element here is that you can be certain that nobody will be selling below cost so it is still a challenging and competitive price and that’s what we need to see.”
Terry Cassidy, owner of Tirchonaill Filling Station in Carrickmacross, said his forecourt has been busier since he started selling petrol at 99.9c and diesel at 102.9c.
Fergal O’Leary of the National Consumer Agency said healthy competition is good for the market.
“We welcome the fact that petrol prices appear to be falling and we urge all customers to make sure they take advantage of it by checking prices before they go into a garage,” he said.
