Petrol station owners and industry professionals say fuel receipts should show how much stations and fuel companies earn, not just taxes. Their call comes under a law proposal by Democratic Rally (DISY) parliament member Nikos Georgiou that would require receipts to break down the final price consumers pay.
Georgiou, who chairs parliament’s Energy Committee, wants receipts to list the quantity, the net value of the fuel, excise duty, VAT and other fees and charges.
Savvas Prokopiou, president of the Pancyprian Association of Petrol Station Owners, backed the proposal. “For us, it is welcome and to be applauded,” he told Phileleftheros. He added that receipts should include all the information.
Industry professionals say the proposal carries risks if it is not implemented properly. Without the profits of stations and companies, they argue, consumers would see only the taxes and the share going to the state. They would not see how much stays with the station and how much goes to the company, and could get the wrong impression of what each keeps. Receipts should therefore show the revenue of companies and stations separately, they say. Consumers would then see the real figures for each station, which would answer why some stations are cheaper than others.
Prokopiou and other industry professionals said there could also be difficulties over what should appear on receipts and how they should be laid out.
Some station owners say price differences depend less on the owner than on each station’s profit margin. That margin can vary with the owner’s agreement, or with whether the station is privately owned or run by the company that imports the fuel. Some owners, they say, cannot cut prices further without making their business unviable. A cheaper station therefore does not automatically mean its owner earns less than one at a dearer station, and in some cases the reverse is true.
In the proposal’s explanatory memorandum, Georgiou says it aims to make fuel purchases more transparent and to give consumers fuller information on how the final price is made up. Consumers cannot always tell simply and directly from a receipt which part of the price reflects the value of the product and which part covers taxes or other state charges, the memorandum says. A detailed breakdown could build consumer trust in the market and give people a better understanding of what drives fuel prices.
The memorandum says the measure is not intended to interfere with how businesses set prices, or to impose maximum or minimum prices.
