THINK you are getting gouged at the petrol bowser? You’re right.
Gold Coast drivers are on the podium for paying the most to keep their motors runnings. The average $1.246 cents per litre coughed up for unleaded fuel in September was behind only Melbourne ($1.27) and Brisbane ($1.264).
Of the 30 locations scrutinised by insurance giant Budget Direct across the country, Hobart ($1.238) and Launceston ($1.23) were fourth and fifth. Sydney ($1.217) was tenth.
On the Gold Coast average, an 80-litre tank cost $99.71 to fill.
RACQ said the cost of fuel on the Gold Coast was in a state of constant flux – prices may be rock bottom one day and sky high the next, depending on the point in the price cycle.
Service stations make varying profits on fuel and the Federal Government also takes a chunk of costs through the GST and Australian Government fuel excise.
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For example, the average tax on a litre of unleaded petrol on the Gold Coast is 53.5 cents per litre, including 11.2c GST and 42.3c excise.
RACQ spokeswoman Renee Smith said the average price of petrol on the Coast on Monday was 1.10.7c per litre, compared to 111.9c in Brisbane.
“The fuel price cycle goes for about a month and prices go very high to very low, close to wholesale,” she said.
“It can be a difference of about 40c per litre over the period so motorists really do need to pick their time to fill up in the southeast and capital cities around the country which do contend with a price cycle.
“The good thing is we do have an opportunity to fill up at very cheap prices at times in the southeast, but it does mean putting some thought into when we fill up.
“Brisbane and Gold Coast follow very closely in their pricing. It’s really similar. In October, Brisbane was about 2c per litre more expensive than the Gold Coast.”
Ms Smith said oil prices played a role in fuel pricing.
“But the biggest thing we’re contending with on a regular basis, which has the biggest movement, is the price cycle,” she said.
The ACCC states the price cycle is a “result of deliberate pricing policies of petrol retailers” and fuel prices “are not directly related to changes in wholesale costs”.
RACQ statistics show more people are downloading its Fair Fuel app to find the cheapest spots to fill up their vehicles.
A two-year, real-time fuel price monitoring trial finishes in coming weeks, but the Labor Government committed to continuing monitoring ahead of the state election.
Ms Smith said the price of unleaded petrol had dropped in most regional and city centres.
Extracted from Goldcoast Bulletin