The average price of petrol has fallen marginally, while diesel prices have increased this month compared to a price check in August, a survey has shown. Christine Newman reports.
The cheapest petrol could be bought in Dublin, while the most expensive was at outlets in Clonee, Co Meath, and Limerick city, according to the survey carried out by the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs.
Yesterday, the director, Ms Carmel Foley, called on oil companies to be more transparent and equitable in pricing policies.
"It seems that the location, ownership and size of petrol stations are major factors in determining the price at which retailers can sell their product. If oil companies favoured certain retail outlets above others, these had a competitive advantage."
Price awareness and competition can help consumers, she added.
The ODCA check was carried out this week on September 20th and 21st, and found that the average price of petrol at 98.8 cent had fallen by over one cent.
This compared to the ODCA August survey when the average price was 99.9 cent. The average price of diesel, however, had increased by 2.1 cent to 93.5 cent.
The cheapest petrol was in Dublin at Tesco, at 92.9 cent and diesel at 84.9 cent.
The highest price for diesel, at 97.9 cent per litre, was found at Statoil, Deansgrange Road, and the Shell stations on Donnybrook Road and Ninth Lock Road in Clondalkin.
Outside Dublin, Texaco in Model Farm Road, Cork, at 93.9 cent per litre had the cheapest petrol. The cheapest outlet for diesel was Shell in Ashbourne at 87.9. At 109.1 cent per litre for petrol, a Texaco station in Clonee was the highest. It was also the dearest for diesel at 106.5 cent.