Denouncing “distortion of competition”, the supermarkets System U and E.Leclerc asked TotalEnergies on Wednesday to allow them to benefit from its pump discount of 20 cents when it supplies fuel to their service stations. The gas and oil giant applies since September 1, and until the end of October, a rebate of 20 centimes per liter on fuels in its own service stations, but also supplies those of certain distributors, such as E.Leclerc and Système U.
“Total is both our supplier and our competitor”, summarized Michel-Édouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of the E.Leclerc centers, Wednesday on RTL. “He does not give us this rebate, I have also written to the president of Total to ask him to benefit from it”, he assured.
The day before, the general manager of System U, Dominique Schelcher, had made the same request on BFMTV. “Système U and Leclerc, we buy the fuel together (…) it’s the same fuel in our stations. Part of this fuel is delivered by Total. (…) I ask Total to give us the same discount,” he said.
The two distributors highlight their presence in rural areas where TotalEnergies has few service stations, according to them, to justify this request.
They appeal to Total
“We are calling on Total this evening to make this even more attractive price, which goes beyond the government discount, including people in rural areas,” said Dominique Schelcher. “What is quite bizarre is that the competition authorities, the government, are very comfortable with this distortion of competition,” added Michel-Édouard Leclerc on Wednesday.
Other gas station networks expressed concern about possible “customer evasion” after the TotalEnergies announcement. From 1 November until 31 December, the TotalEnergies rebate will be reduced to 10 cents per litre. Government aid is set at 30 cents per liter in September-October, then 10 cents in November-December.