Petrol cost riles Rototuna residents
Rototuna residents are fed up that their local petrol station is charging 10 to 20 cents more than other petrol outlets in Hamilton.
On their Boycott BP Rototuna Facebook page they say “Rototuna and surrounding residents are fed up with being charged extra for fuel at their local service station. Please join us in monitoring the prices of Hamilton fuel stations, so that we can make well educated decisions on where we purchase from.”
It had almost 400 members by yesterday (Monday) afternoon and almost 600 had signed the petition.
Group spokesperson Jennifer Babich said BP assumed Rototuna was an affluent suburb and therefore also assumed they could charge whatever they wanted.
She told the Waikato Times local customers were unhappy and are willing to drive somewhere else to get petrol –
“The boycott is planned for May 16 and 17.
On Thursday BP Connect in Rototuna sold 91 octane fuel for 209.9 cents, which was 10 to 20 cents more expensive than other service stations in Hamilton, with BP Whitiora selling 91 for 195.9 cents, Caltex Te Rapa 191.9 cents, Z Te Rapa 189.9 cents and Mobil Frankton 187.9 cents.
Friday, however, saw a change of price, or a change of heart with BP dropping their prices by 10 cents to 1.99.9cents for 91, which was a mystery to Babich.
The service station in Rototuna is owned by BP Oil New Zealand, which conceeded it had different pricing across different stations, depening on where competitors were.
BP New Zealand Communications and External Affairs Manager Jonty Mills said in a statement:
“BP will always compete strongly on price where and when we can but can’t always match or sustain heavy discounting across the whole market.”
Jennifer says it was strange that BP’s prices ‘mysteriously’ dropped – “someone must have found out.”
