Soapbox politics - My rant on fuel prices......

Today I am having a rant about fuel prices and the actual effect they are having, and my small opinion on this whole issue. It may be "soapbox politics", and for that I am sorry however Time to Rant...........

I have received a number of "chain" emails over the last few weeks asking me to take various actions against the big fuel companies such as Shell, Esso and Conoco. The large oil companies keep reporting large profits on the one hand and then blamng the government on ridulously high UK fuel prices.

I have been looking into some facts to see whether the oil companies are really to blame or if there are other factors involved.

Last year (2007) the following was the case for duty the goverment collected -

50.35 pence per litre for ultra-low sulphur unleaded petrol/diesel
53.65 pence per litre for conventional unleaded petrol
56.94 pence per litre for conventional diesel
30.35 pence per litre for bio-diesel and bio ethanol - low tax to encourage consumer conversion
16.49 pence per kg for gas other than natural gas (LPG)
13.70 pence per kg for natural gas used as road fuel.
9.69 pence per litre for rebated gas oil (red diesel)
9.29 pence per litre for rebated fuel oil

If petrol cost (just!!) 90p a litre the following split would happen -

47.1p Duty
23.2p for the product
13.4p VAT
6.3p Retailer, including delivery

Now it is not taking a genius to see how this is working. As an average person in business 6.3p for every 90p is not a lot, especially after delivery is taken out of this. By the time an operating profit is taken out if the retailer makes a 2p per litre it will show excellent management. If a site is selling 1000 litres of fuel per day it will only show a petrol profit of £20 on the fuel. Now this is somewhat worrying. £20 will not cover a decent Chinese takeaway for 4!!!!

So how does a fuel stop make money? Obviously not on fuel, maybe on food, drink, magazines and the whole host of additional products now available.

As we can see the oil company is not actually making very much money in the UK from fuel and oil sales. In which case how is boycoting the petrol of a supplier like Shell actually going to help? All this is actually going to do is put even less money into the site and therefore into the staff wages.

It would appear very obvious that the problem lies elsewhere.........

So I say this - it is my opinion, and only an opinion, that actually the government is doing rather nicely out of us the motorist once more. The October price rises for duty put an additional £2.5 Million per day into the government coffers. I am pleased to know that my money is helping this. I ask where is it all going? Am I to believe the country is going into recession again, and that no money exists? Is my money actually being used to fund a war, in a foreign land, that I am not sure I actually believe in. Let's not be flippant over this but remember that some rounds of ammunition cost £60 thousand each, and soldiers will fire off a lot more than one!!!

When my red light is on and I need petrol, and am on the motorway, will I (or anyone else) actually look for a brand I am not boycoting, will I really care? No doubt we will all moan over the cost, but at the same time we will mop our brows because we have fuel now.

As I see it the only way to actually have things change is for a large oil company like ESSO to say "enough is enough. The tax on fuel is silly and we are only earning pennies per litre. We are cutting the price down, now"

And the government loses a lot, so we get taxed elsewhere!! but at least business can now afford to operate in order to try and make money and not just lose out.

If fuel prices fell to say, 79p a litre,who would really get hurt? I do a lot of miles and fill up at least once a week with diesel. It costs me (now) £75+ and I am getting 42+MPG out of my car. I do about 800 miles a week, so I must pay. I know people that do less miles in a month than I do in a week. So they only fill up once a month.

I pay duty on fuel weekly, that is my penalty for doing high business miles. My wife only pays duty on her fuel when she fills up monthly. So what is wrong with this, I say nothing, we all pay for the fuel we use. I use a lot so pay a lot, she uses less so pays less. This is my penalty!!

I appreciate my mileage is nearly all business and potentially a break would help my business, but fairs fair. I have to pay for the actual use I make, as we all should. So where is the problem here?

I suggest that there is no issue with these thoughts. I maintain that the actual problem lies fully at the door of the government. I say don't boycot a certain oil company, they are not really to blame. Ask the government to be realistic and change fuel duty NOW.

As a body of people, forgetting any political persuasion, the drivers of the UK represent a huge number of people. What is needed is a public voice - like a consumer champion such as Which Magazine or Top Gear - to stand up with us all behind them and to try and make a change.

Maybe any comments made on this Blog might help, leave them and see............