Tasman Fuels is up and operating in Ashburton, already doing as it promised, bringing competition to the market.
It could not come at a better time, as fuel prices threaten to soar sky high due to war in the Middle East.
The Gaspy app on Tuesday showed the self-service fuel station, on West St opposite the Ashburton Domain, had 91 unleaded at the cheapest price in town.
It was 260.9 cents per litre, compared to the next cheapest of 269.9 at Mobil Ashburton. Z Ashburton on West St was 279.9, BP Ashburton 275.9, and NPD at Tinwald and Newland 278.6.
Tasman Fuels began about three-and-a-half years ago, with its first fuel station in Christchurch. Today it has more than 10 stations throughout the country.
Late last year as the company prepared to build the Ashburton station, its managing director Phillip Dubau said he could not guarantee the cheapest price in Mid Canterbury on every day, but the aim was to bring competition.
‘‘Our service stations in all the other places, the price went down generally in those places, I guess this is the beauty of competition,’’ he said.
