Fuel excise is back at full strength. The 16 cents a litre of remaining relief expired at midnight on 2 August, and with indexation added the rate now stands at 53.7 cents a litre, up from the discounted settings that had been in place since 1 April. The ACCC’s own framing puts the impact of the relief ending at up to 17.6 cents a litre including GST, and the regulator will be reporting weekly on how it flows through until at least the end of September.
The Hawk Watch
The Treasurer wrote to the ACCC over the changeover weekend asking for increased scrutiny of fuel prices, on top of the standing ministerial direction that already requires weekly monitoring reports. Jim Chalmers put the industry’s position plainly: the ACCC can fine “servos and suppliers up to $100 million per offence, and so servos and suppliers are on notice”, adding that the regulator “will be watching them like a hawk” and that the excise change could not be used “as cover for treating motorists as mugs”. Energy Minister Chris Bowen made the more technical point that matters at site level: excise has already been paid on fuel in the ground, so prices should move as stock replenishes, and “some service stations get replenished more than others”.
The July Numbers
The tax step lands on a market that had already moved hard. The ACCC’s report of 31 July shows five-city average petrol at 193.6 cents a litre, up 42.1 cents across July, with diesel at 232.8 cents, up 59.3 cents. Wholesale terminal gate prices rose by as much as 36.8 cents for petrol and 63.8 cents for diesel over the same month, so most of July’s rise was cost, not margin. Aggregator data put national average unleaded past $2 a litre in the first days of August; official pass-through data for the period after 2 August is not yet published.
The Rollback Completed
OPEC+ met on 2 August and approved another 188,000 barrels a day for September, the sixth consecutive monthly rise, completing the rollback of the voluntary cuts announced in 2023. Reports suggest quotas will then hold for the rest of the year. Oil markets stayed volatile regardless: Brent fell from about US$90 in late July to trade around US$83 this week, spiking nearly five per cent in a day on renewed strikes and tanker incidents around the Strait of Hormuz. The tax is predictable; the barrel is not.
A Note for Independent Operators
The fortnight ahead is the one the ACCC’s weekly reports will scrutinise most closely, and July’s own data is the best answer to forecourt accusations: wholesale moved further than retail in most locations. Keep buying records handy, price off replacement cost, and expect the “you put it up overnight” conversations; Bowen’s fuel-in-the-ground point cuts both ways, and being able to explain your own tank timing calmly is worth more than any sign on the bowser.
Information current as at 7 August 2026. The ACCC’s first full post-restoration pass-through report is due shortly and may update these figures.