ISLANDERS should not expect to see a price war among garages selling coal because the product is just not profitable enough, according to Trevor Hockey, owner of Trev’s Motorcycles.

His comments followed concerns over escalating heating costs.  Coal has gone up 45% locally and Mr Hockey said he did not know of any retailer who marked the product up or down from the suggested retail price.

‘The reality is there is very little profit in coal to be able to do any kind of price promotion,’ he said. All garages contacted by the Guernsey Press yesterday now sell their house coal at £11 per 25k bag – the price that came into effect on Wednesday.

That is the same price that customers can get direct from Guernsey Coal and distributors.

‘You can legally have a suggested retail price for coal,’ Mr Hockey said. ‘We actually tried to sell discounted coal years ago, but it just didn’t work. Garages that sell coal do so as a service to customers rather than to make profit.’