The supermarkets Systèmes 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, denouncing
“distortion of competition”
.
The gas and oil giant has applied since September 1 and until the end of October a rebate of 20 cents per liter on fuels in its own service stations but also supplies those of certain distributors, such as E.Leclerc and Systèmes 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 Systèmes U, Dominique Schelcher, had made the same request on BFMTV.
“U and Leclerc systems, we buy fuel together […] it's the same fuel in our stations.
Part of this fuel is delivered by Total.
[...] I ask Total to make us benefit from the same discount”
, he had declared.
Read alsoDiscounts at the pump: taken by storm, Total stations already out of stock
The two distributors highlight their presence in rural areas where TotalEnergies has few service stations, according to them, to justify this request.
"We are calling on Total this evening to ensure that people in rural areas benefit from this even more attractive price, which goes beyond the government discount
," said Dominique Schelcher.
30 cents per liter of government aid
“What is quite bizarre is that the competition authorities, the government, adapt very well to this distortion of competition
,” added Michel-Édouard Leclerc on Wednesday.
Other gas station networks worried 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.