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Gas stations not showing prices: consumer watchdog

Consumers' Foundation chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) said yesterday that an ongoing survey about the display of gasoline prices found that up to 70 percent of gas stations did not display their prices, affecting consumers' rights to free choice.

Of 139 stations surveyed between Oct. 8 and Oct. 10, 96 did not display their prices.

Lee said this was worse than seen in last month's survey, which found that 54 percent of polled stations did not display their prices.

"There are more incidences of prices being displayed in the north, while such displays decrease [as you move toward] southern Taiwan," Lee said.

In Pingtung County, only one out of the 10 stations surveyed displayed its prices.

The regulations of the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs state that all stations should display their prices and specify that the displays should be at least 1.8m from the ground, unobscured, 17cm by 10cm in size and be visible within 5m of the station's entrance.

"A funny thing is that many display placards are covered by other smaller placards obscuring the price," Lee said.

The bureau has ordered that all stations display their prices by the end of next month or face monetary penalties.

The survey also looked at gasoline prices across the country and found that there was more variation in the south.

In the north the only variation was for 98 gasoline, with prices varying between $NT26.7 to NT$26.9 per liter.

In the south there was more of a variation, especially in smaller villages.

"This shows that there is not much competition in Taiwan," Lee said.

He said he expected that there would be more of a change in prices after the value-added tax was cut on gasoline last month.

The survey also revealed that all of the 139 stations surveyed gave bonuses, either in the form of gifts or in points which could be used to get gasoline discounts.

There was one incident reported of a station misleading consumers about price discounts. The station indicated that it would cut the price of a liter of gasoline by NT$3.4 between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31. However, the reduced price was only offered for the first two weeks of this month. After that date customer were given 3.4 points per liter to go toward a bonus gift.
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