Steel City welcomes dynamic fuel price

JAMSHEDPUR: New to dynamic pricing of fuel, customers at the filling stations are keeping employees busy with queries on the new daily tariff system.
Since May 1, when the dynamic pricing of petrol and diesel came into effect in Jamshedpur, along with four cities —Visakhapatnam, Bharatpur, Chandigarh and Puducherry — the daily revision of prices have left customers confused.
“The concept of daily pricing of fuel is new among vehicle owners. They come with a barrage of questions related to the dynamic tariff system.,” said Harvinder Singh who owns a petrol pump in Bistupur.
He said the even as the revised price is displayed on notice boards out the filling station, customers would enquire about the day’s price oil price.
Another petrol pump owner in Sonari, Alok Singh, said that there hasn’t been a significant jump in the number of customers coming for filling fuel after dynamic pricing came into effect. The customers are visibly happy knowing that price of petrol and diesel is relatively cheaper than neighbouring towns, presently.
“These are just early days and even the price is marginally lower than neighbouring towns. The customers are happy that in the first three days they procured petrol at a relatively lower price,” said Singh.
The petrol pump retailers have maintained that so far they haven’t faced any customer complaints.
“The daily revision of oil prices is linked with the base price of petrol and diesel in international market. The system is beneficial as long as people find it cheaper, but once the price increases people will start questioning the system,” said a travel agent, Vipul Kumar Singh.
“Oil companies have provided a mobile number to the customers for knowing the day’s price through text message,” said a petrol pump owner.
The fuel pump owners have informed that automated pricing of the oil is being done through software. “Oil companies have installed necessary software and hardware required to connect the outlet with VSAT for automated revision of the price,” said an outlet owner Dilip Kumar Singh.
“Oil companies should ensure the pilot project of dynamic pricing becomes sustainable with time bound changes accordingly,” said a tax consultant, Vijay Goel.