The Price of Fuel

Yesterday they announces that the EU had approved a plan to try to reduce the high cost of petrol which especially affects those of us in the islands of Scotland. Today our petrol prices went up. Again. You can have an argument about fuel prices for the entire country being too high, due to taxes etc, but as Brian Wilson put it in his comment piece in the West Highland Free Press this week it's the price differential that causes us issues up here. About 20p a litre on city prices I think, now up to £1.50 a litre at my local petrol station, or near £7 a gallon.

I also found another comment from Brian Wilson in 2003, when he was an energy Minister in the Labour Government - "There is a danger of price increases at the pump becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy in circumstances which do not justify them.". Also says about prices surging to 90p a litre. Remember that and weep. I will. I just looked up the prices when I passed my driving test in 1994, around 50p a litre. Even allowing for inflation it still makes nasty reading.

But the differential is the particular problem that we see here. I've heard a number of excuses for it over time, it's the cost to get the fuel to the island, or the lower volumes put through the pumps that causes the prices to rise. I've yet to hear a definitive theory that actually makes any sense. There isn't a huge difference in the cost to get fuel to other remote areas of Scotland, or to the volumes but there is still a differential even there. In the Wilson piece he uses Fort William as an example, similar volumes sold, and fairly remote to get it to, but much cheaper than here. The fuel comes to the island by Tanker, direct from Grangemouth I believe, which isn't particularly different to how they get it to other places, but it costs us more to fill up.

The major problem as I see it is that someone is ripping us off on fuel prices, and no-one wants to properly investigate who. Why not? There may be all sorts of reason, investigations have looked at if the retailers here were operating a cartel, but no investigations have ever looked at the suppliers. I certainly don't know why it costs so much, I'd like someone to tell me but I won't hold my breath for it. I do have a feeling I'll be getting fitter with walking so much more from now on though.