Some heading North to ‘save a few pence per litre’
AT a fuel depot just north of the border on Monday there were no less than four southern-reg vehicles in and around the pumps. One car was getting tyres fitted, another was paying for coal. One car had finished pumping fuel and was now filling drums in the car boot with more diesel or petrol, and a fourth- a van- was getting a pallet of coal loaded by a side door.
While this journalist tried to speak to the retailer about fuel price comparisons north and south of the border, three more customers- clearly from the Republic- telephoned to ask for his prices in Euro.
Three other southern customers came in during our ‘interview’ and paid for fuel using Euro bank cards, causing the retailer to point out: “even with the exchange rate, it’s still worth their while.”
When the USA and Israel launched surprise air-strikes on Iran on Saturday, February 28, many people’s thoughts turned to oil supplies, trade routes and fuel prices, so trained are we to think of such eventualities after the energy crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine in 2022. Still, nobody expected to see the price at their local pump rise by, in some cases, 15 cents the following day.
“On the Friday before the war an Arctic load of 38,000 litres of [home heating] oil cost me £24,000 (sterling). One week later it cost me £48,000 (sterling), so double that,” the first retailer said. “Petrol and diesel went up by around 30 per cent but kerosene went up 100 per cent. There should be no excuse for that.
“We lost badly that week,” the business owner continued, “because we had promised people we would deliver them oil at a certain price and we honoured that. We did the opposite of price gouging. We sucked it up on behalf of our customers.”
Home heating oil
Although the UK has been subjected to similar fuel price hikes, it appears southern homeowners and drivers are still prepared to drive north to make savings, however small.
The first retailer visited quoted €1.50 pl for home oil.
According to OilPrices.ie the average for 500 litres in Cavan on Monday was €872.50, and €855.20 in Co Monaghan. In the north the same quantity sets you back €750- a saving of up to €122.50 on half tank.
The proprietor said some of the vehicles from the south are coming past his station on their way to do grocery shopping, but a lot are driving from Cavan with the specific purpose of filling their cars and drums with cheaper fuel.
All the business owners said sales of kerosene were down since the attacks in the Middle East began. “People are not filling up, they’re getting like 300 litres when they used to get 1000 litres,” one business owner said. “But, they’re coming across the border to save a few pence per litre.”
Coal
Down the road is another depot advertising three 20kg bags of smokeless coal and a bale of briquettes for £30 sterling or €35. Some in Cavan are selling a single 20kg bag for €15.
The cheapest the Celt could find was €10.50 at North Pole Fuels in Cavan Town. A Cavan retailer told us he would sell the same multi-package for €47- a difference of €12.
Further down the road, and still on the northern side, six southern-reg vehicles are filling up at another station.
A conversation overheard was about whether the price of coal would go up.
“Not yet, but probably,” the counter assistant told the man driving a van with a Cavan business name emblazoned on the side. “Because transport costs have gone up.”
When this journalist asked the customer and assistant what they thought was the root cause, the counter assistant said: “Trump and Netanyahu”, while the weary driver: “Our government”.
One Cavan retailer said he believed filling stations were putting up their prices today to help them to afford to pay for the next load they receive at the higher price.
Petrol and diesel
Fuel price comparison website Pick A Pump.com, as of Monday, shows Go HGV 24/7 in Cavan town at €205.9 for diesel; Circle K, Cavan, at €209.9 for diesel; and Circle K, Monaghan town at €209.9 for diesel and €186.9 for petrol.
Just over the border on Monday, the Celt got quoted €1.90 for diesel and €1.60 for unleaded.
“People are fed up with the prices,” one of the filling station owners says. “Both in the south and here, but they’re coming across the border to save a few pence per litre.”
When asked if his business was losing trade to the north, a retailer in Monaghan said: “Sure, it’s been that way for a long time. It’s all swings and roundabouts.”
Meanwhile, Tommy Sheehan from North Pole Fuels in Cavan town says he has never seen it so bad.
“The amount of money one local charity has paid into my business supplying coal to struggling families is disgraceful,” he said. “I have delivered to homes I never delivered to before, and the government don’t seem to care.”
As the Iran conflict develops and the fallout unfolds further, people on this side of the border seem to be monitoring price fluctuations constantly.
If the price of say, diesel comes down even slightly in the Republic over the coming days and weeks, then it is hardly worth the petrol money to drive up north for a fill-up.
But the prices like the oil, and the situation in Iran, is fluid, however, one thing is clear from our visit to three retailers in the North this week: households, delivery drivers, and car owners are making the journey north in their numbers which suggest margins are tight for everyone at this current time.