For the past two weeks, it has been possible to compare where and how much a liter of gasoline costs. TCS has launched a benchmarking platform. The mobility club is “very happy” with the petrol price radar: Accordingly, the TCS website was accessed over a million times in the first 14 days. More than 12,000 people signed up to actively help shape the oil price radar. About 2500 gasoline prices are updated daily.
But not everything is perfect yet. Many independent gas stations are still missing from the gas price radar. Approximately 1,500 applications were received for this. Likewise, the platform is still not available in the TCS app. According to TCS spokesperson Laurent Pinot, this should happen in the next few weeks.
Lubricants companies are skeptical
It is still doubtful whether all gas stations will participate in price registration. The lubricant companies explain that gas station operators can choose for themselves whether they want to participate.
The industry seems to have little left for the TCS initiative. Shell spokesperson Jane Nüssli, for example, told Blick: “The transparency of petrol prices is always given. Many gas stations have a display board where the prices of the products are clearly visible.» He also doubts the data: “Price changes at gas stations are more common now than in the past.” Most of the data on the gas price radar is sometimes a few days old.
Organized in collaboration, Patrick Staubli, Managing Director of Avia, goes a step further: “The high density of gas stations and the transparent display of column prices on display boards ensure competitiveness and full price transparency in Switzerland.” Avia does not consider an online gas station comparison necessary and does not see any benefit to the consumer. “Based on the information we have, we assume that refueling is mainly done on the road between home and work, and almost no diversion is accepted for this.” However, Avia does not exclude cooperation with TCS.
TCS boss Pinot dismisses suspicion that TCS and the fuel companies are collaborating: “The platform was developed exclusively by TCS.” TCS Managing Director Jürg Wittwer (52) also believes that the platform fills a real need and the community is willing to contribute to the platform in the public interest.
Waiting for government solution
Parliament will decide in a few days to create a national online price calculator. The Federal Council saw no reason for this, but the Council of Provinces approved a corresponding motion. Only a decision from the National Council is awaited.
Shell and Avia point out that such a platform should be implemented across the industry and that special technical requirements will be needed to be able to report fuel prices at gas stations to the platform in real time. Price watcher Stefan Meierhans (54) also expects distraction tactics from mining companies. They will likely take lengthy legal action against transmitting the data to a gas price calculator.
TCS is Solomonic: “Parliament is free to decide that a platform developed by the government and at the expense of taxpayers best meets the expectations of the population,” says Laurent Pinot. TCS is focused on providing a fast free solution for all drivers. If the federal government establishes a database of up-to-date oil prices, TCS simply transfers this data to its platform.
This sounds a little different for Romain Boichat (49) of the similarly designed petrol price comparison platform ton-plein.ch: “If there is a government solution one day, we will stop.” That said, there’s room for two platforms right now – TCS’s has a significantly greater range. Boichat can count on several gas station chains that are actively involved in the entry of prices.