Motorists want to file EC complaint over fuel prices and market competition

 The Malta Automobile Club has said that it has collected enough information to submit a formal complaint to the European Commission, claiming that Maltese consumers are being treated as second-class EU citizens as fuel prices remain higher than the majority of EU states.

“The liberalisation of the fuel market was supposed to benefit consumers, but 11 years after Malta joined the European Union, consumers have enjoyed no benefits at all. The importation, storage, and sale of petrol and diesel should not be government business. The local representatives of the foreign oil companies should be allowed to compete on a level playing field among themselves and provide petrol and diesel at the lowest possible prices,” MAC president Alfred A. Farrugia said.

The European Commission’s latest consumer prices of petroleum products inclusive of duties and taxes shows 18 EU Member States with petrol prices less than in Malta, and 24 EU Member States where the price of diesel was less than in Malta.

“The Malta Resources Authority, like the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, has been toothless to enforce its authority on petrol station owners since two diesel suppliers joined the local market. If the two private diesel suppliers were providing diesel at a lower cost than Enemalta or Enemed, how is it possible that the petrol station owners concerned were not exceeding the mark-up when they were selling the diesel at the same price as that supplied by Enemalta or Enemed?”

“It is evident that the MCCAA is only interested in a well-functioning market for the benefit of economic operators, but has forsaken completely the benefits of the consumers.”

An investigation into the fuel market’s competitiveness by the MCCAA has still not been concluded nine months since it was launched after the owner of a Rabat fuel pump had to reverse his decision to cut the price of diesel by 2c when the fuel supplier allegedly intervened.

The petrol pump owner Mario Camilleri had announced he would be selling diesel 2c below the price established by the government. But on the day the new price was to come into effect he received a call from Joe Falzon, owner of Falzon Group, which supplies diesel, telling him the higher profit margin he enjoyed would be withdrawn if the decision remained.

While the government’s company, Enemed, is the only importer of petrol, diesel is also imported by a few other suppliers, particularly the Falzon Group and Cassar Fuel. But the price of diesel at the pump is the same as that supplied by Enemed, which has the largest market share.