Petrol prices and public holidays

• There is a perception in the community that petrol prices increase by more than usual just before public holidays and long weekends. To test this perception, the ACCC conducted a detailed review of prices in the five largest cities around every public holiday.
• This review showed that price movements around public holidays have been similar to price movements at other times.
• In part, the perception that price increases are unusually large just before holidays may be due to the operation of the generally regular weekly cycle. This often causes prices to rise either just before or on most weekends, not just holiday weekends.
• Price rises may be more noticeable before holiday weekends because a large number of motorists make long trips, using more petrol than usual.

For more information refer to Chapter 11 of the 2011 Petrol Monitoring Report.