A Nyanga filling station has come under fire for allegedly not immediately reducing fuel prices when they go down, yet act without delay when a price increase is announced.
Car owner, Mzwandile Mfazwe, said he challenged the petrol station after they failed to drop their prices in December.
He claimed the prices were dropped after he took the matter up with them.
In an interview with Vukani on Thursday January 5, following the Wednesday January 4 hike, which saw petrol going up by 50 cents a litre, a livid Mr Mfazwe said the recent increase had reminded him of the battle he had with the filling station in December.
Two days after the petrol price dropped by 20 cents on December 7 last year, Mr Mfazwe went to refill at Nyanga Engen Service station, but before fuel could be put into his vehicle he claimed he remembered a previous encounter with the garage in which they had not dropped their fuel price.
He therefore confirmed the drop in price with the attendants who assured him that the price had been adjusted accordingly.
Still suspicious, however, Mr Mfazwe decided to only put R50 worth of fuel in his car, asked for a receipt and drove to another garage in the Airport Industria where he also asked for a receipt after refuelling.
While he got just less than four litres of fuel for his R50 at the Nyanga filling station, he said, he got just over four litres at the airport.
The receipt from Caltex in Airport Industria reflected a cost of R12.37 a litre, but his receipt from Engen did not reflect the price per litre.
A fuming Mr Mfazwe said he returned to the garage to voice his concerns.
And while they seemed to fall on deaf ears, Mr Mfazwe said they later adjusted the price.
“We are victims here. While I had this debate with them there were many other cars that were refilling,” he said.
“You ask yourself, how many people are falling victim to this, especially considering that we are in a poor community.
“We are not benefiting from anything here.”
Mr Mfazwe said he demanded to speak to the owner of the station, but he was not available.
He called for stricter monitoring procedures to force filling stations to comply with fuel price adjustments.
When Vukani visited the station last week, the owner was also not available.
Staff said he was at a meeting, but promised to convey Vukani’s request for answers. By the time this edition went to print, he still had not responded.
In a media statement, the Department of Energy said it regularly received similar complaints and called on people to report such matters, which would be referred to its inspectors for investigation. “Upon conviction the retailer can be charged a fine not exceeding
R1 million and or 10 years imprisonment,” the statement read.