Chris Dobney
Fuel prices in the northern rivers are dropping – but not fast enough or low enough according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
A report released by the ACCC yesterday indicates average city prices fell by around 35 cents from July 2014 to January this year, whereas the gap between city and country increased from 5.7 cents to 17 cents per litre.
In the wake of months of crashing oil prices, yesterday one service station in Sydney was offering petrol for 99 cents a litre, the lowest price in decades.
But the cheapest price for unleaded petrol Echonetdaily could find in a quick windscreen survey was 118.9 cents at the Caltex service station in Brunswick Heads.
At Uncle Tom’s pie shop and petrol station near Mullumbimby it was 120.9 and at Tyagarah Liberty the price was 122.9.
At Tony Carsburg’s car dealership, which offers full driveway service, it was 124.9, while the two service stations in Bangalow were still selling petrol at 126.9 yesterday.
Where is the cheapest fuel near you? Take a shot of the price board with your phone and email it to [email protected] or post on our Facebook page together with the location you saw it.
The ACCC has announced it will monitor and analyse fuel markets in a more regular and in-depth way in future.
The study will involve both quarterly macro reports looking at the drivers of fuel price movements in all capital cities and around 180 regional locations, as well as at least four market studies looking at micro issues which include analysing the drivers of petrol prices in particular regional markets.
It is to be hoped the reports also investigate the pricing of diesel, traditionally consumed more in the country than the city, which remains stubbornly high in most areas.
According to the NRMA, ‘retail prices in many metropolitan areas typically follow a discounting cycle. Customers in Sydney and other large cities will be familiar with these discounting cycles, which typically occur on a weekly basis.’
But it adds that, ‘prices are more stable in regional areas because of a general absence of price discounting. This… means that regional prices appear higher than fully discounted or average city prices. Higher transport costs also contribute to higher fuel prices in regional areas.’
The driveway attendant at Tony Carsburg said contrary to popular myth that service stations were gouging, ‘there’s not much profit in petrol’ and that the company tried to stay within a few cents a litre of self-service outfits.
The website Motor Mouth compares ‘rolling average seven-day prices’ around the state, including some in the northern rivers.
Today’s quoted petrol prices are 133.3 in Ballina, 131.9 in Casino, 133.8 in Grafton, 129.6 in Lismore, 131.2 in Murwillumbah and 119.7 in Tweed Heads South.
Where is the cheapest fuel near you? Take a shot of the price board with your phone and email it to [email protected] or post on our Facebook page together with the location you saw it.
What needs to be published is the difference in wholesale cost to the retailers. If regional stations are paying more (due to transport costs as they say) then it is fair to charge more. However, I suspect that regional outlets of the big chains are paying less and charging more than the local independents – an unfair system to those local businesses and the consumers. Once again, a lot of flurry over one aspect of the issue and NOT the core issue.h