Fuel

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s tenth quarterly report on the Australian petroleum industry has found that the quarterly average price for petrol in the March quarter 2017 was 129.1 cents per litre (cpl), which is the highest since the September quarter 2015 (133.2 cpl).

Prices in the five largest cities (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth) increased by 7.1 cpl. Retail prices in Perth were the highest with the average retail petrol price in Perth reaching 132.1 cpl.

The average net profit per petrol station in Cairns was around 38 per cent higher than the average net profit across other sites around Australia in 2015–16, according to a new petrol market study published by the ACCC today.

“The ACCC’s Cairns petrol market report confirms what motorists have suspected for a long time: they are paying too much for fuel and contributing to very high profits for retailers in the area,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission analysis of recent petrol price cycles has identified that prices have already peaked in many capital cities, which means that they should be falling at a time when petrol demand is highest.

“Sales of petrol across Australia are at their highest in the latter half of December, so the fact that prices should be decreasing, albeit from high levels, during a period of high demand will be some comfort to motorists,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.