Gas supplier Liquigas yesterday said the cylinder working stock at Qajjenza filling station was “completely depleted”, blaming the authorities for “failing to take concrete action” against competitor Easygas which it said has hoarded thousands of its cylinders.
“The authorities’ failure to take any concrete action with tangible results for the return of Liquigas cylinders hoarded by Easygas has led to the untenable situation where gas distributors will have no cylinders to load on their trucks today,” Liquigas said yesterday in a statement.
Liquigas has been accusing its competitor of keeping between 4,000 and 6,000 of its green and yellow cylinders, severely depleting its working stock. However, Easygas argues these were only a “minute and insignificant percentage” of the entire cylinder stock.
Liquigas pointed out that it did all possible to “safeguard the distributors’ interests”, even buying thousands of cylinders over and above what would have been actually needed in a normal situation.
However, the extra cylinders were not going to solve the problem if the authorities did not stop Easygas from its “abusive practice”, Liquigas insisted.
“Liquigas is not afraid of competition. Let us compete on the price and quality of service, but hoarding your competitor’s cylinders to cripple his distribution system is definitely an unjust act,” Liquigas CEO Roberto Capelluto said.
“All along, Liquigas has been telling the authorities the situation is deteriorating and that there will soon come a day when, unless they persuade Easygas to return the thousands of cylinders to their rightful owners, there will be no cylinder working stock at Qajjenza. That day has arrived,” he said.
The controversy erupted in January, when Easygas started accepting empty yellow, green or brown Liquigas cylinders in exchange for its new grey ones at no extra cost if consumers wanted to switch suppliers. This was done after Liquigas had asked customers who wanted to return empty cylinders to present their receipt to receive the full €25 refund, where this amount applied. Otherwise, they would only get a €5 refund.
Easygas had said the Liquigas decision was creating a hurdle for customers who wanted to switch suppliers so it is against the spirit of free competition.
The matter is being contested legally in a case before the First Hall of the Civil Court, where Liquigas is demanding the return of the cylinders.