Fuel is a big item on everyone’s budget, but it isn’t the only item. Consumers having to face higher prices at the pumps since last year are now more discerning with how they use their fuel and more demanding on the level of service they get whenever they go to fuel up.
This is why Dexter Riley, CEO of the United Independent Petroleum Company (Unipet) – one of the main fuel service stations in the nation – believes that if you are going to pay higher prices for fuel, then you should at least get better value for your money.
“We have been living with escalation with everything else for many years,” Riley said. “Responsible consumers, which we all have, look at fuel the same way as they do everything else. They rationalise it and they see if they could get better value.”
Speaking with Business Day at the Unipet booth during the Energy Chamber’s three-day conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on Tuesday, Riley said this was one of the factors that contributed to Unipet’s ongoing transition from a service station network to a convenience energy service.
Riley said this new and improved Unipet will provide a different experience in how customers consume and interact with fuel by providing a variety of fuel sources – whether it is gas, CNG or electricity, giving customers greater control and leveraging digitalisation.
Leading the charge with renewables
Riley said Unipet made the commitment to lead the charge in utilising renewable energy, continuing their 25-year-old tradition of being catalysts of change.
“In business it is sometimes hard to say when changes would come in and sometimes it is even harder to say the details of how, but what we could say is we have a commitment to this change,” he said.
Unipet has thus far installed five charging stations in four of its locations – Brentwood, Lady Hailes Avenue, Barrackpore and two at its head office in Aranguez. Its first station was installed in its Brentwood service station in 2020.
He added that the service would be free for the public as long as it continues to be economically viable for the company.
“It's a small community of EV drivers, but with the potential of growing over the years. So we want to help the country make that change by making that service available free, for as long as we can.”
[caption id="attachment_997808" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A Unipet UCharge car charging station for electric vehicles. - PHOTO COURTESY RICHARD J MUNRO[/caption]
He said the chargers are powered by the electricity grid, as solar panels may not have the right load to properly operate them. The solar panels would only work if they had an additional battery or storage capacity so the power could be stored. Riley said as the technology evolves Unipet will make the investments.
In the meantime, Unipet uses solar power in other operations in their service stations. In Brentwood, for example, Unipet uses solar panels to power its pumps and lights.
Unipet
