The price of fuel skyrocketed last night; premium went up by over a dollar, to eleven dollars and fifty one cents, while regular went up to eleven dollars and twenty four cents a gallon. Deisel went up to ten dollars and sixty six cents. That's the bottom line after a short lived tax holiday given on the last shipment of gas which held off the whopping increase for ten days.
And while pump prices for fuel have shot up - butane prices have stayed stable for the past two months and that's because after 7news exposed widespread fraudulent business practices in that industry - government has simply refused to grant that industry an increase.
And tonight, one new entrant into the Belize City market is pushing prices even further down with a major promotional offer. Z Gas was just allowed to operate in the city - and the company is putting pressure on its competitors.
But are they putting enough pressure in your tank? That's what we tried to find out:…
Jules Vasquez Reporting
At its new depot on the Northern Highway Z GAS is offering butane at $4.15 per gallon, that works out to a hundred pound cylinder for ninety one dollars and fifty cents, that's almost forty dollars cheaper than his competitors. It is just a promotional offer - but it's a 30% discount form the going price for imported butane. The country manager who only speaks Spanish told us why they are doing it:
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"Basically they are doing it so that the public on a whole out there can know our product and our services that we offer."
But that product - he showed us that it is a 65 - 35 mix is sold by the gallon, not the pound - even though there is a scale on the premises - you will only get 22 gallons on the meter.
Jules Vasquez
"Will I be able to get 100 pounds from your LPG?"
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"You can go ahead and do the test, I am sure that you will get the accurate amount of LPG."
Jules Vasquez
"Will I get 100 pounds?"
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"It depends on the weight of the butane - on the mixture of the weight. 22 gallons is equivalent to 96 or 98 pounds."
Jules Vasquez
"You don't make any apologies that its 96 or 97 pounds. Because you are aware the law says 100 pounds."
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"That's the problem there because the government is saying that it's giving that as a fact but that inaccurate."
Jules Vasquez
"What is inaccurate?"
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"That 100 pounds is equivalent to 22 gallons. It's not, it should be less."
Jules Vasquez
"I have gone and gotten 100 pounds of imported from Tomza I believe. I Spanish Lookout I bought it and it weighed 100 pounds, I have gotten 100 pounds of BNE butane and it weigh 100 pounds. Why can't you give me 100 pounds?"
Manuel Sevilla Cerrato, General Manager - Z Gas
"I am aware of it but it depends on the mixture because it might seem as though they are getting the same amount of gallons equivalent to pounds but it's because of the residue that is left in the butane tank. I agree that you can get the accurate amount that the government is implying but that will cause certain safety issues."
Tomorrow, we'll have a little more from that story as we press Salazaar on why he insists on selling by gallon when it is widely acknowledged across the industry that pounds are the most reliable unit of sale for those who don't want to get cheated….
And staying on butane, we note that the new regulations went into effect today which require that all depots and delivery trucks have registered scales to make sure you aren't being cheated. But when we cruised the city looking for delivery trucks, we didn't see any scales.
We contacted the bureau of standards to ask what consumers should do but are still waiting for an answer.
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