REPRESENTATIVES of a fuel firm which supplies the Western and Northern isles have agreed to explain their pricing structure.
Scottish Fuels staff will attend talks in Stornoway on Friday to explain why the price of petrol and diesel rose by 4p weeks before the introduction of a government-backed discount scheme.
The move follows a request from Western Isles SNP MP Angus MacNeil who wants to know why there is a huge difference in prices between Stornoway and Inverness.
Unleaded petrol in some parts of the Hebrides is 154.9p a litre.
Mr MacNeil said: “As a near-monopoly supplier, I believe that Scottish Fuels are pivotal in reaching an understanding to enable us to lower fuel costs. There are three bits of key information we need – price per litre leaving the refinery, price per litre at the ports of discharge and of course all too painfully, we know the price at the pumps.”
Scottish Fuels has denied it put up the price in anticipation of the 5p discount scheme, which could come into force in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland as early as November.
It says it is affected by the high cost of fuel and transport and used a formula to track the market and set prices.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott has persuaded the Office of Fair Trading to examine why the price of motor fuel varies so much throughout Scotland.
Motorists on Unst in Shetland are being charged 156.5p per litre for unleaded and 159.2p per litre for diesel.
Mr Scott said DCC, the company which owns Scottish Fuels which supplies Shetland, should be asked to “open their books” and explain the difference.
He added that the OFT can investigate an abuse of a dominant position.
Earlier this week supermarket giant Asda announced it was cutting the price of fuel by up to 2p a litre. Asda said it was responding to a drop in wholesale fuel prices.
Rival Sainsbury’s also announced it was cutting fuel prices by up to 2p per litre in many of its stores.