2024-02-15 19:36:42
Since 2015, the gap between the price at the pump and the import costs of fuel has soared in Switzerland, according to an RTS survey. The bill runs into billions for consumers.
June 2023. You are refueling your vehicle. You then pay around 1.80 francs per liter of unleaded petrol. The distribution sector in Switzerland, in particular the importer and the service station, then collects a little more than 30 cents. For several years, this margin has continued to grow, even exceeding 35 cents in 2022.
Margins in Switzerland are taking off
Between 2012 and 2014, gasoline increased by around 20 cents between its arrival in Switzerland and its exit from the pump. During the previous decade, this increase was around 18 cents.
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Stefan Meierhans, Federal Price Supervisor, attests to this increase in margins: “I carried out a survey in 2022 and 2023 and came to similar conclusions, in particular by comparing the margins in Switzerland and abroad”, he explains Thursday in the 7:30 p.m.
How can we explain such growth? RTS asked the question to Avenergy, the association which brings together energy producers in Switzerland. Its director, Roland Bilang, does not dispute the calculations submitted to him. He states in the preamble that he does not have “detailed knowledge of how supply costs and operating costs are made up for our members”.
However, he puts forward a few elements supposed to explain the increase. He first mentions the increase in CO2 emissions compensation. He also mentions the increase in salaries at stations, Covid-19 and rising energy prices.
However, these explanations pose a problem in terms of chronology. The amount of CO2 compensation has changed little since the introduction of the climate cent in 2005. The other events mentioned occurred following the takeoff of distributor margins, around 2015.
Several billion additional costs
These few extra cents per liter cost 530 million francs for the year 2022, payable by unleaded consumers. For diesel vehicles, the additional costs approached 600 million.
In eight years, five billion surpluses have been absorbed by the distribution of these fuels in Switzerland.
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Who gets this windfall? Large distributors, gas stations? To find out, RTS contacted several major players.
Salespeople who are not very talkative
Coop Mineraloel and Migrol each have more than 300 points of sale in Switzerland. Migros did not respond to our questions.
Coop says it “cannot understand our calculations in detail”. The brand adds that the actions and various discounts offered to customers “are probably not taken into account in the price statistics”. She also mentions biocomponents, which are more expensive and increasingly used in the sector. Reductions are nothing new, however. As for biocomponents, their share in mixtures remains limited, generally less than a tenth of the total volume. It is difficult to explain a margin increase of more than 50%.
With more than 500 points of sale, Avia is the brand that motorists encounter most often. Its director, Patrick Staubli, believes “that he cannot give more information on the evolution of prices. Avia is made up of ten independent companies which individually set the prices per column”. RTS contacted five other distributors, without obtaining more precise answers.
If a refinery closes in a region, that always makes a change. (…) If we reduce capacity but demand remains strong, this causes a price increase!
Ramon Werber, director of Oel-Pool
The takeoff of margins in 2015 coincides with the closure of the Tamoil refinery. The Libyan distributor had a complete supply chain. His network allowed him to exert a certain pressure on prices. As soon as it closed, some experts feared a rise in prices due to weakening competition.
The director of the distributor Oel-Pool, Ramon Werner, confirms this hypothesis. “If a refinery closes in a region, that always makes a change. In Europe too, refineries have closed. If we reduce capacity but demand remains strong, that causes a price increase!” However, he affirms that the closure of Tamoil is not the only cause. Like other players in the sector, he highlights various cost increases that affect his business.
According to him, another factor weighs: “The volume [des ventes, ndlr.] decreases, approximately 3% decrease each year on the volume of fuel. However, we always have to make investments.” In other words, each liter should be more expensive to ensure profits, because the stations sell less.
Prices that are not very transparent
It remains difficult to see clearly the justifications for the increase in margins. Distributors remain secretive regarding certain basic data. Profits made in Switzerland are not accessible. The same goes for all the prices charged at the pump. Stefan Meierhans has long called for an obligation to announce station prices. This proposal remained a dead letter. According to the Price Monitor “we can see a lack of competition. With the TCS data (which relies on consumers to identify prices in stations, editor’s note), we have emerged from obscurity but we remain in Twilight.”
A new phenomenon might make this issue even more critical. Fuel sellers are increasingly turning to software based on artificial intelligence to set prices. Studies have shown that this technology, used on a large scale, promotes a significant increase for consumers. Switzerland is not spared, since Migrol, for example, has one of these algorithms.
According to Stefan Meierhans, this new phenomenon is worrying. “This is already a theme in Europe. We are discussing it because an algorithm can increase already comfortable margins, particularly in Switzerland. For the moment, this phenomenon escapes the political or legal framework.” The bill might therefore become even heavier for road users, especially since the fight is quite unequal: “Consumers are armed with a knife once morest a sophisticated army.”
>> Stefan Meierhans’ explanations in the 7:30 p.m.: Fuel distributors have doubled their margins. Reaction from Mr. Price, alias Stefan Meierhans / 7:30 p.m. / 3 min. / today at 7:30 p.m.
Tybalt Felix and Pascal Jeannerat
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