DENVER-
Retailers can once again offer promotions for cut-rate gasoline under a bill that Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday.
Safeway Inc. immediately said it would reintroduce its fuel discount program across Colorado, allowing Club Card customers who buy at least $50 in groceries in one trip to get a discount of 10 cents per gallon of gas.
“With fuel prices on the rise, the timing could not have been better, and customers recognize and appreciate the value we’re offering,” said Safeway spokeswoman Kris Staaf.
She said drivers could use the program as early as Monday evening.
King Soopers also was reinstating its program which offers 10-cents-per-gallon savings for every $100 customers accumulate in grocery purchases using their SooperCards.
Both grocery chains had ended their gas discounts after a judge ruled last year in a lawsuit filed by two Montrose gas distributors. The judge ruled the discounts were illegal under existing state law, which barred retailers from selling anything below cost if it hurt competitors or destroyed competition.
Under the new law, the discounts would be legal as long as they are part of a package of promotions and not intended to set up a monopoly.
State Attorney General Suthers said the new law would open the market to greater free trade and competition, resulting in less expensive prices for gas and other products.
“The bottom line is that this statute will allow Coloradans to benefit fully from competitive forces in the marketplace,” Suthers said in a written statement.
