A special examination by Israel’s Energy Ministry, prepared for C14, found major and recurring price gaps in the household gas market, even for the same exact product sold by different suppliers and in different areas. The report says consumers can buy the same gas cylinder at the same time and receive radically different bills, depending on the company and their location, with no clear national benchmark showing what a fair price should be.
For 12-kilogram cylinders, used in most homes, the ministry found gaps of 41 shekels in Nahariya, 43 in Jerusalem, 70 in Ashdod, 109 in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and 132 in Yeruham. In Ashdod, prices ranged from 109 to 184 shekels, a gap of about 69 percent. In Tel Aviv-Yafo, the range was 111 to 220 shekels, nearly 98 percent. In Yeruham, the price ranged from 127 to 178 shekels.
The larger 48-kilogram cylinders showed even sharper differences. The report found gaps of 150 shekels in Ashdod, 171 in Nahariya, and 177 in Jerusalem, where prices ran from 450 to 627 shekels. The biggest gap was in Tel Aviv-Yafo, where the same cylinder cost between 347 and 629 shekels, an 81 percent difference.
The ministry said the problem also extends to building gas systems and shared gas installations. For stationary tank central systems, gaps reached 43 shekels in Jerusalem, 70 in Ashdod, 82 in Tel Aviv-Yafo, 151 in Nahariya, and 132 in Yeruham. In Yeruham, consumers paid between 114 and 246 shekels, a rise of about 115 percent. The report says the market’s structure undermines consumers’ ability to compare prices, and in some peripheral areas there is little real competition. In Yeruham’s tank-system category, only one company, Amisragas, operates, charging 224 shekels on average, about 176 percent more than Jerusalem’s minimum price of 81 shekels.
