Northlanders are fuming at having to pay more for their fuel than those in other parts of New Zealand.
Photo/NZME
Northlanders are fuming at having to pay more for their fuel than those in other parts of New Zealand.
Photo/NZME
Low-cost fuel retailers offering cheaper prices are elbowing their way into the Northland market, with one waiting for consent to set up shop in Kaitaia while scouting for other locations.
Gull and Hamilton-based Waitomo are actively looking for sites throughout Northland and the former has bought land not far fromcentral Kaitaia where a new service station should be opened within the next two years.
Low overhead costs such as unmanned fuel depots mean their prices are 10 to 15 cents cheaper in places like Wellsford, forcing bigger retailers BP, Z Energy and Mobil to lower their prices.
Motorists have again been stung by an increase in excise duty on petrol that rose 3 cents to 66 cents per litre from July 1, increasing to 70 cents from July next year.
Road user charges for diesel vehicles went up by about 5.5 per cent from this week.
Northland regional transport committee chairman John Bain is questioning why fuel prices were cheaper in places outside Northland, particularly Wellsford, Auckland, Tokoroa, Hamilton and Tauranga than in Whangārei.
He recently filled up in Tokoroa where the price was 21 to 23 cents cheaper than Whangārei.
Northland regional transport committee chairman John Bain is questioning why Northlanders are paying more for fuel than other New Zealanders.
Photo/Michael Cunningham
Fuel is piped from the New Zealand Refinery at Marsden Pt to an adjacent truck loading facility from where deliveries to Northland service stations are made.
"Something is not right when fuel is cheaper in the Far North than in Whangārei when it's refined in our own backyard. Why is it that Northlanders are paying so much more for fuel than those in other parts of the country?" Bain questioned.
Part-time caregiver Cara Joy Collins drives 30 minutes each way from her Whau Valley home to Riponui— 10km north west of Hikurangi— and forks out $100 per week on petrol.
"Fuel price rises are crippling. I don't know how some people can still afford to work. It's just eating into our pay and making it harder and harder for people to make ends meet.
"For me as a single parent, it comes down to 'if I don't work, then we don't eat'. I do get a small benefit which just covers the basic bills. The fuel cost is making it harder for me to provide for my family. It's just not fair,'' Collins said.
Fuel price rises are crippling for Whangārei mum Cara Joy Collins who spends $100 a week on petrol mostly to and from work.
Photo/Tania Whyte
Whangārei mayor Sheryl Mai said to ease the impact of congestion and rising fuel costs, we needed to work towards a public transport system that was more affordable, accessible, and efficient.
Alternative transport options should be considered where possible, she said.
"Our people in Te Tai Tokerau have some of the highest needs in New Zealand – we don't need the highest fuel prices too!"
Far North mayor John Carter welcomed plans by Gull and Waitomo for a bigger presence in Northland, saying any initiative that helped bring essential costs down was welcomed.
"We're also interested in getting whatever a share of revenue the government makes from fuel taxes for infrastructure development. We've done okay but there are areas we need further help with infrastructure," he said.
Gull New Zealand general manager Dave Bodger said about 18 months ago, he drove around Northland and identified places where the company could set up shop.
Kaitaia, he said, has a good-sized community supporting retail giants such as The Warehouse and Pak'nSave and he believed there was also room for Gull.
Bodger said work was expected to be completed on a parcel of land near central Kaitaia and the new, unmanned service station should be up and running in about two years.
The company has an unmanned service station in Waipapa and a manned outlet just south of Whangārei.
"There are places in Whangārei, Dargaville and elsewhere we've looked at as well for the right properties, at the right price so we're relatively active in that sense. We're a silver-chipped tenant, not gold-chipped who pays a fair but not premium rent," Bodger said.
Lower costs from unmanned fuel outlets, he said, enabled Gull to offer cheaper fuel throughout the country.
Waitomo has a 24-hour fuel stop in Paihia and a diesel-only stop on Lower Port Rd in Whangārei that is open during trading hours.
Managing director Jimmy Ormsby said his company, like Gull, was actively looking for sites in Northland.
The only issue was finding the right site at the right price and then going through the consenting process, he said.
"We can offer Kiwis our everyday low Waitomo price at all our sites because our sites are unmanned and we keep our overhead costs low," Ormsby said.
New Zealand has the sixth-lowest fuel tax in the world after Mexico, Chile, United States, Canada and Australia.
Petrol costs
Presently, just under a third of the pump price is the actual cost of refined petrol while about 50 per cent is tax.
This is made up of 63.78c a litre in excise tax (excluding the 10c/litre Auckland Regional Fuel Tax), 6.2c a litre for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and 13 per cent GST.
The pump price of diesel is made up differently to petrol. There is no excise tax on diesel; vehicle owners pay annual road user charges instead.
A display board at Mobil in Dargaville showing 91 octane selling at 226.9 and diesel at 162.9.
Photo/Rose Stirling
In response to Bain's comments, AA petrol prices spokesman Mark Stockdale said fuel prices were not determined by factors such as the location of towns and oil refineries or transportation costs, except in very remote areas.
"It's down to competition and it's just a case of motorists shopping around. There appears to be more competition in Auckland and Tokoroa than in Whangārei.
Yesterday, 91 octane was selling at 209.9 at BP and Caltex in Kerikeri, 219.9 at Caltex in Maungaturoto, 226.9 at BP in Kaitaia and Dargaville and 215.9 at BP on Maunu Rd in Whangārei.
Diesel was 162.9 at Mobile Dargaville, 154.9 at Mobile Kamo and BP Maunu Rd, 162.9 at BP Kaitaia, 147.9 at BP and Caltex in Kerikeri, and 146.9 at Caltex in Maungaturoto.
Facts on fuel prices:
* If the international price of a barrel of oil goes down, it doesn't mean that prices at the pump will follow suit * The oil price that appears in the media is that of crude oil, whereas petrol is made from refined oil which has a separate price * Supply and demand influences this price— so do speculative financial traders. The exchange rate also has an effect. * Oil and fuel prices are set in US dollars. A higher kiwi dollar keeps prices lower at the pump; a lower dollar is likely to push them up. * The general rule of thumb is that a 1c movement in the currency equates to a 1c a litre change in the pump price.
