The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s ninth quarterly report on the Australian petroleum industry has found that the December quarter 2016 had the highest quarterly average price since the June quarter 2015. This coincided with unprecedented growth in popularity of fuel price comparison apps and websites as motorists seek out the cheapest fuel in their area.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Rod Sims has urged motorists to shop around now to find the best deal before price cycles push petrol prices higher. The ACCC is concerned that petrol prices are increasing in Sydney, and those in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide may increase in coming days, following largely OPEC-inspired recent increases in wholesale petrol prices.
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.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s eighth report into the Australian petroleum industry has revealed a decrease in petrol prices in the quarter ending September 2016.
Petrol prices in the five largest cities (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth) decreased by 3.8 cents per litre (cpl) in the September quarter 2016 to 114.2 cpl. This is lower than the 118.0 cpl of the previous quarter and was 7.5 cpl lower than the annual average of 121.7 cpl in 2015-16.
A lack of competition has led to consistently high prices in the Armidale petrol market, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's latest regional petrol report.
“Armidale motorists have been paying on average around 8 cents per litre more than motorists in the five largest cities. Prices in Armidale have also been consistently higher than in smaller surrounding towns such as Glen Innes and Inverell” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest report on the Australian petroleum industry shows that average petrol prices in 2015–16 were at their lowest levels since 2002. However, gross retail margins also increased to their highest levels, indicating that the full benefits of lower international crude oil and refined petrol prices are not being passed on to motorists.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report into the Launceston petrol market released today has concluded that if the Launceston market were more competitive motorists could expect savings of 4-5 cents per litre (cpl) on a sustainable basis.