It appears the consumer watchdog has our backs, with the ACCC revealing they will be keeping a close eye on petrol prices to ensure we get the benefits of falling oil prices.
Recent, sharp falls in international crude oil prices means what we pay at the bowser should be significantly less than what we’ve seen in recent months.
The Australian Competition Consumer Commission says while we will most likely see a decrease, it might not happen for a few weeks.
“Changes in international refined petrol prices usually take between one and two weeks to be reflected in retail petrol prices in the larger capital cities, and longer in the smaller capital cities and in regional areas,” Chairman of the ACCC Rod Sims said.
“There are also regular price cycles in the larger cities, which means that the underlying decrease in prices due to decreasing international prices may not be apparent in the short term.”
Mr Sims said confirmed Australian petrol prices are primarily determined by international crude oil and refined petrol prices.
“Therefore, a sustained decrease in these prices should lead, everything else being equal, to lower petrol prices at the bowser,” Mr Sims said.
“We will be looking at the market very closely, to determine if further sustained reductions in international prices are being passed onto consumers, and we will be publicly identifying those retailers that are not passing on reductions.
“The ACCC cannot control the petrol prices companies set but we can call out problematic price setting which can influence company behaviour.”
At the time of writing, there was an almost 50-cents per litre difference between the cheapest and most expensive price of unleaded petrol on the Gold Coast.
A service station in Helensvale is selling for 159.9 cents per litre, while servos in Worongary, Merrimac and Helensvale are selling for just 112.9 cents per litre.
According to the RACQ, a fair fuel price on the Gold Coast today is 114.9 cents per litre.
Extracted from MyGC