The Consumers’ Association has asked the Malta Resources Authority to provide it with a copy of the agreement reached with petrol station owners who had recently threatened to strike. “It seemed that the agreement was for the public to cover most of the expense required for petrol pumps to be upgraded to meet current standards,” the association said in a statement.

It said it disagreed with this type of deal because businesses should never be compensated to reach the required standards and it called on the authority not to take the upgrading expense into consideration when calculating the price of fuel.

The association has written to the Consumers and Competition Division calling for steps to be taken to stop what it described as the petrol station owners’ cartel.

However, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, pointed out that the profit margin of petrol station owners was fixed by the resources authority and not by the market.

In a free market, station owners would negotiate the price with the supplier, estimate the cost of their service up to the standards established by law and set the price to consumers. But, this could not be done unless reference was made to the resources authority, the GRTU said.

“It is grossly unfair on MRA for the Consumers Association to give the impression that consumers are being left in the lurch because it is not involved.” Things were not done haphazardly or, as insinuated by the association, “by collusion”, the GRTU said.