Friday, August 14, 2015

Is there more than one competition committee?

Sadly, not only in Norway does this kind of logic prevail;
State officials in charge of regulating competition in Norway are urging motorists to buy gasoline (petrol) on Sundays, when the price usually dips before being jacked back up again on Monday. They want consumers to be much more aware of the gasoline stations’ tactics.
Bold in the original article, which continues;
The state officials at competition authority Konkurranse-tilsynet have been studying the Norwegian fuel market, as part of evaluating whether they should allow the Finnish gasoline station operator St1 to take over Shell’s stations in Norway.  They have already characterized competition in the market as “very limited,” with too few players as it is.
But enough competitors that the stations reduce prices to induce more purchases during off peak hours. And, more evidence the market is competitive comes from a committee member;
Petter Fedje, said that more and more motorists are already filling up their tanks on Sunday evening or early Monday morning, when prices are lowest. “That’s good for competition,” Fedje said. 
Oblivious to the fact that competition is good for low prices? From which the Norwegian driving public benefits already;
The authorities determined that St1, as a self-service chain selling only fuel, with no personnel present at its stripped-down stations, generally has the lowest prices at the pump and thus contributes to tougher competition.
Out of the goodness of their investors' hearts? Imagine how much lower prices at the pump would be without all those fuel taxes;
Pump prices continue to hover around NOK 15 a liter (USD 7.50 a gallon) even though the price of oil has fallen by half since last year. The station owners claim that’s tied to the weakness of the Norwegian krone against the US dollar, and the fact that tax makes up much of the price in Norway.

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