REPORTAGE – As of Wednesday, the State discount will be reduced by 20 euro cents, and that of TotalEnergies by 10 euro cents. To take advantage of current prices one last time, motorists rush to the pump on Tuesday.
«Hello Sir, the price increase is good for tomorrow?Like many customers at this gas station in Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), on the outskirts of Paris, Cathy, 60, came especially this Tuesday to take advantage of the current state discount on fuels. From this Wednesday, it will indeed be reduced from 30 to 10 euro cents per litre, while the additional discount at TotalEnergies stations will drop from 20 to 10 cents.
«I don’t use my car much, so I have a little qualms about coming today“, she admits, while inserting her credit card into the payment terminal. The amount is displayed: 33 euros. “For a quarter full only“, blows the sexagenarian. Ten euros worth of fuel for one, 15 euros for another… The small sums on the receipts betray the desire of customers to completely fill their tanks before the passage of the rise. “I’m here to take advantage of the discount», raconte Taoufik. «It is not negligible“, abounds Michaël. “Today, I pay my liter of unleaded 95 1.56 euro, and I know that it will be at least 1.76 euro tomorrow“Laments this loyal customer of this Elf station.
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Shortage in some stations
«On plays with our nervesLowering the discount at the pump, annoys Djamila, who came to refuel this Tuesday not for the discount but because she was dry. “I would have liked it to be maintained at today’s level“, she regrets, fearing for her purchasing power. “Customers know it’s the last day of the 30 cent discount“Reports Moussa* on the other side of the checkout. And, according to him, the motorists of this modest commune fear the beginning of next year, which will mark the complete disappearance of any rebate on fuel. “Some say: “January will be a disaster”“Reports the young man, hat on his head.
Hence the rush to his station since the beginning of the week. Tuesday at midday, diesel was out of stock. “Are you out of diesel? It was however marked on the government app that you had some!“, grumbles Gérard * with Moussa, after having searched in vain for the precious liquid in the surrounding stations. “It’s the cross and the banner to find some“, he says, quite annoyed.
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Like this Elf station in Gennevilliers, many stations in France suffer from shortages, at least partially. If the government refuses to give a figure, AFP says that nearly 19% of stations were out of at least one fuel on Monday, among the 9,900 stations that used it on September 20 before the long strike. in French refineries. Some were even out of order, like Tuesday morning at the TotalEnergies station at Porte de Saint-Cloud, on the edge of the Paris ring road. “We saw people, who are not used to this station, and who came here saying: “we searched everywhere in the neighborhood and it is only you who have fuel”“, reports the pump attendant.
“Here, people do not look at the prices”
For its part, the Ministry of Energy Transition contented itself with stating on Monday that “many of our fellow citizens are anticipating the reduction in the rebate at the pump». «This creates queues at gas stations“, he indicated, affirming that the executive followed “the situation very closely“. Measures have already been taken to contain these shortages, says the cabinet of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, such as the extension of the hours of the deposits or the release of strategic stocks.
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In the center of Paris, motorists crossed at the station on Tuesday seemed less affected by the drop in rebates from the State and TotalEnergies. “I don’t care, you have to put gas“says an old man at the cash desk of the TotalEnergies station in Invalides (7th arrondissement). Cécile even admits not being aware of the imminent planing of rebates. “I don’t have TV“, would almost apologize the young woman. “Here, anyway, people don’t look at the prices, says the cashier, who has not observed a significant increase in the number of customers. We could put the liter at 5 euros that they would still come.»
Some, like Anna or Piotr*, say they came on purpose all the same “for the discount“. Especially since, in the TotalEnergies stations, the note will climb even more than in the other stations. With the reduction in cumulative discounts from the State and the oil group, the liter will increase from Wednesday by 30 euro cents.
*The first name has been changed at the request of the person concerned.
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