The ACT government will “assemble all of the available data” on Monday to determine whether it needs to take the unprecedented step of capping retail petrol prices in Canberra.
With wholesale and retail unleaded prices plummeting elsewhere in Australia and globally as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Minister Andrew Barr last week warned the capital’s service station operators to drop prices below $1 a litre by the end of the weekend.
He said a lack of action would force the government to use its powers under the ACT’s Fair Trading Act to set maximum retail margins, which would prevent service stations selling petrol for more than a specified amount above the wholesale price.
When Mr Barr made the comments last Tuesday, data on comparison website MotorMouth shows Canberrans were being slugged an average 113.5 cents a litre for unleaded petrol. That was despite the average wholesale price at the closest terminal gate being just 83.8 cents a litre, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum.
By Sunday afternoon, the average retail price in the capital had dropped to 102.5 cents a litre.
Mr Barr said he had been out on Sunday morning to monitor price falls, and the signs were promising.
“They still have a few cents to fall, but it would appear that retailers have heeded the warning to significantly drop prices,” Mr Barr said about 1.30pm on Sunday.
“We will assemble all of the available data [on Monday] and make a decision on the next step.”
Petrol prices have long been a contentious issue in Canberra, where motorists have endured years of consistently having to pay more than those in other capital cities and even surrounding parts of NSW.
An ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into the issue found last year that the local market was plagued by issues including a lack of independent retailers, higher business costs, and a lack of price awareness among motorists because most service stations were not on main roads.
The bipartisan committee that conducted the inquiry made recommendations including that petrol retailers be required to post prices online and in real time, on a government-regulated website. No such website exists in the ACT as yet, with the territory government saying in February that it would ask the NSW government to look into extending the FuelCheck website to include coverage of the ACT.
Interestingly, the committee rejected the idea of setting a maximum retail margin – the very concept Mr Barr is now threatening to introduce.
Extracted from Canberra Times