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A tip off on stopping the Big Petrol rip off

Frank Zumbo

by Frank Zumbo

04 Jan 05:45am

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Filed under: Accc, Consumers, Free Market, Petrol, Petrol Prices

76 comments

Here we go again. Another festive season and yet another petrol rip off!

A ridiculously unaffordable scenario

Now for some of us there’s nothing new in that - we have simply got used to being ripped off. For the free market theorists and other apologists for the big oil companies and major petrol retailers, like Coles and Woolworths, they like the fact that petrol margins have been growing even if it has been at the expense of motorists.

It’s easy for the free market theorists to turn a blind eye to motorists being gouged as some of the free market theorists may be shareholders of the big petrol retailers or may even earn big dollars advising them. They may even have a company or taxpayer funded petrol card. There’s nothing like a vested interest to cloud a person’s economic frame of mind.

For the comrades who think that petrol prices should be higher they should spare a thought for those struggling Aussie workers who need to buy lots of petrol to drive to work because there’s a lack of public transport. The comrades may be pleased to hear suggestions of a public transport levy on the sale of petrol that’s actually used to fund new public transport initiatives.

Here the free market theorists and comrades may not be that different after all as they may even agree on the use of taxation as a way of changing people’s behaviour. Remember the carbon tax?

But what about the poor motorists? Who speaks for them?

Well, to their credit the motoring bodies around Australia have spoken up about the rip off during this festive season. These bodies are not always so vocal in exposing the rip off. After all they have to deal with the Federal Government on national road and safety issues and Federal Governments don’t take too kindly to vocal critics.

But on this occasion the motoring bodies added their voices of concern about the festive season rip off, or more particularly the games the oil companies and major retailers were playing with the so-called price cycle. That’s where the petrol retailers jack up the price of petrol by up to 15 cents a litre in one go without any economic justification.

What pressed the motoring bodies into action on this occasion? Quite simply, because the games and the resulting rip off were a little more blatant this time and no doubt the poor struggling motorists were complaining and asking what their motoring bodies were doing.

Where do these concerns end up? Well, the ACCC Petrol Commissioner of course! He’s the petrol cop on the beat that Swan promised us and you have to wonder how many motorists know his name. He’s also the guy that usually tells us that everything is generally fine with petrol pricing across Australia.

Well, you would be forgiven for saying that if everything is generally fine with petrol prices, then why do we need an ACCC Petrol Commissioner that costs taxpayers a small fortune? Maybe abolishing the ACCC Petrol Commissioner would free up some much needed funds to improve public transport…

Surely, the free market theorists would agree with abolishing the ACCC Petrol Commissioner. Don’t free market theorists believe in fewer regulators? Why aren’t the free market theorists calling for the abolition of the ACCC Petrol Commissioner?

Maybe the free market theorists also think that everything is fine with petrol pricing? Even then why would we need an ACCC Petrol Commissioner? We would still have an ACCC to enforce our competition laws if the Petrol Commissioner was abolished.

Anyway, games are being played with motorists and it’s time to do something about it. To do so requires the Federal Government and the ACCC having the power and the will to deal with all the different games being played at different times.

Before anyone gets too excited and says that nothing can be done about petrol prices because of “peak oil” or because prices are set internationally we need to remember a few things.

The notion of peak oil, or more specially that oil is basically non-renewable with decreasing supplies, is generally factored into the international price of a barrel of oil and hence the international price is typically much higher than the actual cost of producing oil.

So while notions of peak oil may be an element in the international price of oil, they do not fully explain the day-to-day fluctuations in the international price of oil. The fact is that the international price does fluctuate on a daily basis to reflect actual changes in the day-to-day demand or expected demand for oil.

Obviously, when demand falls, the international price also falls. That’s what happened in October 2011, when the international price we use in Australia – the Singapore benchmark price – fell significantly with fears of an economic slowdown.

Those falls in the Singapore benchmark price translated into falls of around 9 cents a litre in the average wholesale price across Australia. From 17 October 2011 the average wholesale prices starting dropping sharply which should have meant sharp falls in average retail prices.

The problem is that the average retail prices have not come down as much as they should have, especially in regional areas where average retail prices have basically remained unchanged in many places. After a 10-week period of much lower wholesale prices it’s clear that retail prices have had more than enough time to come down to fully reflect the sharp falls in the wholesale price.

You would expect the ACCC Petrol Commissioner to be out there telling us that we should be expecting lower retail prices. But no, we instead get the yearly ACCC petrol prices report that tells us that everything is generally fine with petrol prices. No wonder motorists and their motoring bodies were really annoyed during this festive season.

What’s the point of having a yearly ACCC petrol report if chances are that it ends up being used in the oil company’s promotional material to say how wonderful they are? Surely, there’s something fundamentally wrong with the way we are handling the petrol rip off.

Then of course there’s the old, but much loved oil company and supermarket game of geographic price discrimination where a retailer charges a different price for the same petrol at different locations. Obviously, motorists in higher priced locations are being ripped off.

Here the answer is very simple. The Federal Government should require all petrol retailers to publish their retail prices online and in real time so that motorists can see where to get the everyday lowest petrol prices. The big players all have a website so it should be very easy for them to do.

Where a small petrol retailer can’t afford to have a website then the Government can make funding available from the money it saves from abolishing the ACCC Petrol Commissioner and stopping the publication of the ACCC’s yearly petrol reports that are more like lonely economics textbooks on a library shelf than a blueprint outlining the tangible steps that could be taken to inject real competition into the Australian petrol industry.

Most commented

353"Gifting", "journey" and other words we hate
309Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
242They must pay for one's bitter disappointments
230South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
230Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...
228Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
224The most laughable, err, spoof since Einfeld

76 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • nihonin says:

      05:33am | 04/01/12

      I’m going to stick with the dedicated LPG car I have, stuff paying for petrol, it’s a killer, whenever I look at the price when I’m filling my car, less than half the price of Unleaded per litre I’m paying.  Benefits my pocket and contributes towards a cleaner environment.

      Reply

    • Daemon says:

      08:52am | 04/01/12

      Hi Nihonin. When I fill my car with E10 95, I get around 500K for 50 Litres of fuel. In a gas car, how does that compare?

    • Michelle says:

      09:14am | 04/01/12

      I agree, my ‘82 Ford Falcon XD takes 30 bucks a week to run on LPG. Petrol- no thank you

    • nihonin says:

      09:59am | 04/01/12

      $50 to fill about 93 ltr tank, on highway cycle about 730 klms, obviously chews a bit more on city cycle.  Car is a BF Futura 2007 model.

    • Martin says:

      10:29am | 05/01/12

      Like solar, gas conversion is a significant chunk of $$$ initially and needs to be borne into overall vehicle running costs. What (if any) was the cost of converting your vehicles to gas ? I looked into getting my 2000 Toyota Avalon converted, but the requisite engine rebuild was prohibitive.

    • Nathan says:

      05:46am | 04/01/12

      Publishing petrol prices would be a game changer? I really doubt that to be the case, each company publishing their prices so people have to search around to find it come on now that is hardly going to work. There are websites that aggregate the information already but hardly anyone uses them so i would guess the answer is not that simple at all. The only way you can control it is through government intervention and legislation but then that would be restrictive and people will complain about that.

      We can’t have it all our own way, and btw i found your explanation of how global oil markets work to be exceptionally basic and ignoring what actually happens. If the price of oil of was determined by supply and demand i think the world would be a different place.

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      09:41am | 04/01/12

      ” If the price of oil of was determined by supply and demand i think the world would be a different place”- you are sort of on the money here..  The current market does work on supply and demand, it’s just that the supply is very tightly regulated to produce a specific quantity of oil.. If all the resources were available to all of the consumers, the world would be a different place. The economics 101 way of looking at it really just leaves open too many loop holes such as the regulation of supply which can be manipulated by intelligent business people

    • nihonin says:

      03:30pm | 04/01/12

      lol thanks Spadge I’d forgot that site existed, I guess 70% of the voting public has as well…...........Meh!

    • The Badger says:

      05:43pm | 04/01/12

      nihonin
      Put your postcode into the site and tell me where the cheapest petrol is in your suburb.

      PS. 70% of the voting public don’t live in West Australia.

    • Other idea says:

      06:31am | 04/01/12

      No dude!!! So close but yet so Dravid-like in an extravagant swisshhh and miss.

      NON. FOSSIL. CARS. I’m not saying which kind of non-fossil (although my current personal favourite is the Honda FCX Clarity…) - but burning oil in combustion engines is 150-year old technology.

      Who will care how much petrol costs when you dont need petrol for personal transport? (And double guess what? We currently dont. Technology exists making a requirement for petrol for personal and family transport redundant already. Industrial & heavy haulage is different, but as of now, you can fuel and drive your family without spending a cent on petrol… just not in Australia).

      What we need is something similar to California’s hydrogen highway plan. Manufacturers wont sell their non-fossil vehicles into Australia cos we dont have the fuelling infrastructure. Spend the ACCCs petrol guru budget on a few hydrogen refilling depots… maybe put some of the government fleet on non-fossil fuel… and get me some goddamn no-petrol cars into the showrooms already.

      The technology is there. Usage = improvement = more people start using it = more improvement = more usage = lower development & production ratios.. you know how economy & scale works. Start using it.

      Reply

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:05am | 04/01/12

      YES! Hydrogen!! The Clarity is a fantastic example of what we can achieve with non-fossil fuels. Similar power and economy to modern cars but with zero emissions and, best of all, powered by the most abundant element in the universe. Demand for petrol will plummet and, with it, the prices. Obviously there are issues and challenges, but it’s an area that we really should be spending more time and money researching and developing.

    • Kebabpete says:

      08:55am | 04/01/12

      The majority of the retail price of fuel is actually taxes. When hydrogen becomes popular enough they will tax it exactly the same way.

    • other idea says:

      09:37am | 04/01/12

      @kebab

      ...or you can make your own using water & catalytic converter. Now the laws of the universe insist that the energy contained in the hydrogen you get will be less than the energy required to power the converter - but by combining a home solar panel and grid electricity, you can self fuel a hydrogen vehicle indefinitely without ever paying someone else for the fuel in your car. And even in the wildest calculation of the most expensive way of doing this, its cheaper and cleaner than petrol.

    • mick says:

      06:39am | 04/01/12

      Your article demonstrates that the ACCC has become a worthless organisation doing little more than employing people to write fob off emails.  Since Alan Fels left the organisation it has ceased to operate properly and needs to be disbanded.

      I sent the ACCC evidence of a scratchie scam complete with several entries which all should have resulted in a prize if you bought the product which was being flogged.  There was no prize of course and the ACCC did nothing other than send me back emails full of bull****.  Like the organisation itself totally useless.

      In regard to petrol the government should develop a formula which ties average spot crude prices in several parts of the world to our retail price.  I can hear the howls of ‘anti competition’ from the oil companies already, but this would render oil companies unable to spike petrol at any time.  The oil companies would hate it but motorists would get a fair deal.  Bet nothing much changes.

      Reply

    • Kebabpete says:

      09:07am | 04/01/12

      You’re right, the ACCC is useless. It also doesn’t do anything but support big business.

      I recently made a complaint to them because a rival company was selling a product that we both sold at well below cost just to drive me out of business. All the ACCC did was forward my letter to the competitor. They never even removed the name or company details.

      I then received a letter from this company’s lawyers stating that they intended to sue for slander unless I withdrew my complaint. I forwarded this to the ACCC also. They forwarded this to the company also.

      In the ten months following I never received any correspondence from the ACCC other than the acknowledgement when I finally withdrew my complaint.

    • RyaN says:

      09:28am | 04/01/12

      ACCC = gravy train for the mates. Nothing more, nothing less.

    • mick says:

      01:09pm | 04/01/12

      Kebabpete -  it would be good if the Punch crew followed this up as a story.  What you have indicated is the norm.  So what are the taxpayers actually funding given that the ACCC is a totally toothless tiger which has no intention of doing what it was set up to do?  I am beginning to think that Alan Fels, who was doing a good job, was shafted.

      I recall a conman named Foster who defrauded thousands of Australians but was let go for many years.  We also see the stories of other conmen who never seem to be stopped.  All of these lead back to the ACCC, the toothless tiger.  My post above convinced me that this organisation is in the business of sending responses, not fixing corrupt people and organisations.

      The ACCC needs to be done away with.

    • Mahhrat says:

      06:58am | 04/01/12

      Are we being “ripped off”?  Yes, and there’s a really, really easy way to show why.  It’s largely the same as when banks talk about interest rates.

      When things need to go up, it’s because Singaporean Crude has gone up.  It went up, we need to put hte price up.

      This is a simple argument, and it makes sense.  “It costs us more to make, and we can’t absorb that cost.”

      The reverse, however, is where the BS starts.  Crude drops in price like last year, suddenly there are all sorts of “complicating factors” and “forces” and words I can’t pronounce.

      The fact remains, however, why would the government want petrol to go down?  We have to buy it regardless.  It could be $2.50 a litre, and we would still pay the price, because our country is based upon private transport in personal vehicles. 

      No, no big agency - corporate or government - is interested in changing anything.  It is up to people, and until you figure out this is exactly the kind of thing the Occupy protestors were talking about, you won’t get anywhere.

      We have the power, but we don’t want to use it.

      Reply

    • Shane says:

      09:40am | 04/01/12

      I hear you. Australians are slow to wake from their apathy. When this kind of thing happens in France, people immediately take to the streets to protest it. Sometimes their government listens.

      Australians have become slow witted, fat, lazy and too content and we take too many things for granted. We laugh at the Occupy Protestors while completely missing the point they’re trying to make, in our best interests. The media shoves the point they want to make down our throats and everyone laughs at the smelly hippies.

      I often wonder just what it would take to get the average person on the street to leave their cubicle and take action against a bad government decision.

      Eg, if Gillard tomorrow decided she was going to scrap Medicare and create a law that forced everyone to get private health cover, what would we do? I believe that most people would roll over on it. They’d look at the math being forced upon us in a fancy diagram or chart by papers such as the Herald Sun and think “well it’s only $10 a week”, that’s not so bad - and be convinced by the media and advertising that all would be well.

      Until your kid gets sick and there’s a $10,000 gap in the treatment between what you’re covered for and the hospital bill.

      When will Australians stop accepting mediocrity from public servants? What will it take to slap them out of their fat, contented existence and make them realise that they can make change?

    • Phil says:

      11:26am | 04/01/12

      @Shane,
      “Until your kid gets sick and there’s a $10,000 gap in the treatment between what you’re covered for and the hospital bill.”

      Well then it will be a story to take to ACA or TT surely as who would refuse a sick child health care blah blah blah.

      You have nailed it, Australians are slow, lazy and apathetic and it will be far to late before they do stand up and hold the government accountable for its mismanagement of the country for decades on end.

      The fuel rip off (which makes them money anyway) is only the tip of the ice burg.
      Ive got friends in the US who are complaining they are paying what would work out to be around 80c a litre for fuel.. last time i paid that price was in the later part of the 90’s.
      One yank who was visiting AU almost fell over when we went out and I had to fill the car, he couldn’t believe the cost we pay for fuel.

    • Willie Mac says:

      11:29am | 04/01/12

      Australia has been a country of commuters precisely because fuel has been cheap up until now, and when conditions change we must change too. People ought to move closer to work and start walking/cycling everywhere. Driving down demand has the added effect of cutting off the petrol providers at the knees much more effectively than any Occupy movement. The power of the free market will always trump demonstrations.

    • Fiddler says:

      06:37pm | 04/01/12

      @Willie Mac,
      what a great idea. I’m sure all those people who live on the outskirts of Sydney with unreliable public transport will thankyou for that idea. They can just sell their house on the outskirt of town and move to say Surry Hills. Think of all the money they’ll save

    • PW says:

      11:44pm | 04/01/12

      Phil the price of petrol in the US hovers around the $3.75-$4 a gallon mark. A US gallon is 3.8 litres. So they are paying around $1.00/litre whereas we are paying around $1.40. This is partly explained by the higher price of Tapis crude, and partly by the Australian excise. The gap between Aust and the US has narrowed considerably in recent years.

      This is a finite resourse we are talking about here. It does NOT need to cost less. Quite the opposite in fact.

    • PW says:

      11:52pm | 04/01/12

      @Fiddler

      Surely the problem here in Sydney is that vast numbers of jobs are located at the very eastern edge of the metropolitan area, rather than in the middle, requiring massive amounts of resources to be wasted by people just in getting to work.

      Those who say public transport is unreliable are those who never use it.

    • persephone says:

      07:01am | 04/01/12

      So what’s the tip off?

      And why aren’t there any links to support any of the author’s claims? Or even a few examples? (I travelled - and refuelled - on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Fuel prices seemed fairly normal to me).

      Difficult to assess whether the author has a real point when there’s such a lack of real information.

      And - on the Coles & Woolies thing - the inconvenient fact is, that in the three regional centres I use to refuel, their petrol stations are always quite a few cents per litre cheaper than their rivals, even before I factor in the discount.

      But to give you the tip Zumbo promised but didn’t deliver….have your car converted to LPG.

      Reply

    • Noel says:

      08:40am | 04/01/12

      Yeah sure, let’s all convert to LPG, then the tax on LPG will go up to cover the loss of revenue from the low sales of Unleaded fuel. It’s in the government’s best interest to keep fuel prices going up, up, up…...more tax! Don’t forget people, we are taxed twice on petrol…..TWICE! Greedy bastards!

    • Wilma J Craig says:

      06:25am | 05/01/12

      Yes, let’s all convert!
      Persephone, as a typical socialist lefty know-it-all, you instruct us to convert to LPG.
      If you really believe your own rhetoric why have you not long-since converted to it?
      LPG conversions have been available for years.
      Oh! I get it now! Its not a matter of you actually doing anything yourself but of you, in typical socialist style, telling everyone else what they should do!

    • ShamWow says:

      07:28am | 04/01/12

      Everyone get together and pick one major fuel retailers to ignore, that’ll fix your prices for a little while.

      Reply

    • Nick G says:

      09:19am | 04/01/12

      No, it won’t. It will raise demand at the other petrol stations and they will need to lift their prices to back demand off (so they don’t run out). Companies regularly use price changes to dictate demand. I.e. lift prices to reduce demand so they don’t run out (fuel at Easter), or reduce prices to increase demand and clear stock (Myer boxing day sales). This is what also explains day to day fluctuations, it’s the petrol stations reacting to how much fuel they have vs demand. If you went to a petrol station and it was out of fuel regularly, you would stop going there.

    • TChong says:

      07:37am | 04/01/12

      “Änyway its time to do something about it. To do so requires the federal gov"and the ACCC….”
      ...the answer is very simple. The fedral govt. should…
      More central control for comrade Frank.
      With Mr Z s calls for more govt regulation and intervention ,makes us
      ol’ Fabians proud.

      Reply

    • mick e mause says:

      07:38am | 04/01/12

      Ethanol blends and are the biggest rip off, most major brands sell at 2 cpl cheaper than unleaded when the cost to them is 4 cpl lower than unleaded. And then their is premium 95 octane whose cost to the oil companies is similar to 92 octane but sells for 10 cpl more!

      Reply

    • SimpleSimon says:

      08:35am | 04/01/12

      Real time updates to a web site with fuel prices? Shell, as an example, currently has over 800 service stations in Australia, according to it’s website. How many people is it going to take to maintain that? If every station has 3 different fuels (they probably have more) and change the price of each once a day (the average may be higher), that’s a conservative 2,400 website changes every day. Good luck getting that done in “real time”.

      Now, it could be simplified by having high tech signage directly linked to the ‘net, but that also wouldn’t be cheap.

      When you consider that, from a $1.40 per litre tank of unleaded fuel, over 50c of that is tax, it starts to look quite cheap. From 140.0 cpl, minus 10% GST (roughly 12.7c) is 127.3, minus approx. 38.1c in fuel excise tax (as of 2006, may be different now) is 89.2cpl to the servo! From that they pay for the fuel, lease on the building/property, pay their staff etc., etc.. I find it hard to complain about that.

      Rather than bitch about the cost of petrol, we should be focussing our energy on developing personal transportation that runs on alternative fuel sources, such as Hydrogen. Dual-fuel cars, particularly while hydrogen slowly makes it’s way in to petrol stations, could be way to move forward.

      Reply

    • PTom says:

      02:49pm | 04/01/12

      The Federal Government tired a website based on the WA Fuelwatch but to many bitched against it for partisan and self-interest.

      Yet the WA site contuines where individual station can submit to one site.

    • The Badger says:

      08:38am | 04/01/12

      “Here the answer is very simple. The Federal Government should require all petrol retailers to publish their retail prices online and in real time so that motorists can see where to get the everyday lowest petrol prices.”

      Already have it in West Australia. Can save you more than 20 cents a litre.
      You could have it too but I’m sure Dr NO wouldn’t like it.

      Check it out.
      http://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/fuelwatch/pages/home.jspx
      .

      Reply

    • Noel says:

      10:00am | 04/01/12

      The Badger, a Labor stooge/ troll….“You could have it too but I’m sure Dr NO wouldn’t like it.”  I think Liar Gillard wouldn’t like it either, or Barmey Brown, or KRudd, or Swannee, or Greasey Albanesey….........see mate, it’s easy to throw childish schoolyard namecalling around…....grow up, and for pete’s sake stay on topic! Besides, the Labor/ Greenies unwanted Carbon Dioxide Tax would preclude this joke of a goverment from supporting any reduction in fuel tax! Oh, have you seen the latest statistics regarding the weather for 2011? Seems Australia has had a very cool year…...........where’s the global warming? A lie, a con! Wake up people.

    • The Badger says:

      10:37am | 04/01/12

      Good afternoon Conservative stooge/troll
      Despite 2010 being cooler than recent years, the decade ending 2010 is now the hottest decade on record for Australia with an anomaly of +0.52 °C. This underscores that the warming of Australia’s climate continues, even though individual years may be cooler than other years.
      http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20110105.shtml

      As the year draws to a close, the Weather Bureau has revealed Perth has sweltered through its hottest year on record.
      Weather Bureau duty forecaster Rabi Rivett said the average maximum temperature for 2011 was likely to be 25.7C, eclipsing the previous high reached last year of 25.3C.
      Prior to last year, the previous hottest year in terms maximum average was 1978 with 25.2C.
      Perth has also had a record number of hot days - where the temperature is 32C or above - in 2011 with 76 days, beating 66 hot days in 1978.
      http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/12472925/perth-swelters-through-hottest-year/

      Give my regards to D. NO when next you kiss his ring.

    • Against the Man says:

      10:42am | 04/01/12

      Do you know if Julia Gillard would like that and support it?
      I haven’t heard her get approval from Bob Brown.

    • Aitch B says:

      11:11am | 04/01/12

      @Badge

      Stiff cheddar if Abbott doesn’t like it….. it doesn’t require legislation. I’m sure if the Labor government put its mind to it they could implement a national…....

      Oh, wait….....

    • PTom says:

      03:01pm | 04/01/12

      @Aitch B,

      What did you miss the Rudd Government Fuel Watch website, that so many Liberals bitched against and list it as a failure.

    • RyaN says:

      03:17pm | 04/01/12

      @PTom: I remember that, what is the URL again? http://www.fuelwatch.gov.au? Nope can’t find it. Wonder why it was canned if it wasn’t an abysmal failure like everything Labor does.

    • amistead says:

      05:41pm | 04/01/12

      Where is fuelwatch?
      fuelwatch was killed off in the senate by the opposition.
      Please do try to keep up with political events.

    • RyaN says:

      11:23am | 05/01/12

      @amistead: How much did this poorly thought out and incompetently executed little thing cost us hard working taxpayers?

    • amistead says:

      12:18pm | 05/01/12

      Ryan
      Nothing, it was defeated by the opposition.
      Check out how it would have worked and does work in WA by referencing Badgers link.

      You can save big dollars with this tool.
      example; petrol in North Perth 131.5 at one station and 148.5 at another station i North Perth.

      If you can’t see the value in this tool, you are a tool.
      Why don’t you stop being so political and judge things on their merit?

    • Barge says:

      08:42am | 04/01/12

      Frank - perhaps the Government could set up a central web site. They could call it “Fuelwatch’ - why didn’t somebody think of that. You have very simplistic answers to very complicated problems - the price of crude is merely one part of the total price of the refined product. Maybe you need to do some more homework before writing such simplistic crap.

      Reply

    • Peter Wauker says:

      08:54am | 04/01/12

      When will people wake up to the fact that the supermarket fuel stations are always 4 - 6 cents dearer than the rest.  Shop at the other supermarkets, one in particular will save you enough cash to at least half-refill your car at the cheaper fuel stops.  I’m so over seeing the “save 4 cents” signs, I save far far more than that by opening my eyes!

      Reply

    • PsychoHyena says:

      09:29am | 04/01/12

      Well don’t have to shop around in Launceston… They’re all 149.9c per Litre with the Supermarkets offering 4c normally, 8c currently discount per Litre. But then it’s been 149.9c per Litre for the last 4 months, prior to that it was 145.6. So somehow lower wholesale prices have resulted in increased bowser prices

      Reply

    • AFR says:

      09:34am | 04/01/12

      Gee, Frank, even cracked records will skip onto something else occassionally.

      Reply

    • Bananabender56 says:

      09:55am | 04/01/12

      It’s not just the price of fuel that’s the problem. If we want people to switch to hybrid vehicles for example why doesn’t the Government abolish import taxes/duties/GST on these vehicles? Instead, like most Governments the stick is wielded and we add tax to the cost of fuel. Why is a Toyota Prius 30% more expensive here than in the US?

      Reply

    • B says:

      10:25am | 04/01/12

      Because “hybrid” cars are worse for the enviroment in the long term any.  The hypocrisy is hilarious.

    • LC says:

      11:32am | 04/01/12

      It’s not just that either. Right before the carbon tax hit the senate, Labor and Liberal were negotiating a plan to slap whopping taxes on electric cars to make up for all the money they’re not going to bring in via various fuel levies.

    • Aussie Battler says:

      12:42pm | 04/01/12

      @B says:11:25am | 04/01/12
      Because “hybrid” cars are worse for the enviroment in the long term any.

      Why do you say that B?  Aside from the batteries, “Hybrid” cars are pretty much the same as “Normal” cars.  Current recycling technologies would be able to handle the batteries when they are cactus.

    • SimpleSimon says:

      03:10pm | 04/01/12

      The amount of work that goes in to making the battery for a Prius does more environmental damage than a Land Rover does over it’s entire lifespan - primarily from mining and transporting the nickel. This is somewhat inflated, as presumably each load of nickel can make several batteries, but nevertheless demonstrates just how toxic the process is.

    • Leigh says:

      04:27pm | 04/01/12

      “Why is a Toyota Prius 30% more expensive here than in the US?”

      For the same reason all cars are too dear in Australia: taxpayers like you are paying to keep a relatively few people in Australia’s car industry in jobs. It’s good for a few people, but it’s bad for the majority. Australian politicians and the economists who advise them are duds.

    • Leigh says:

      10:46am | 04/01/12

      How many people actually “need” to drive to work because public transport is lacking? In the country, probably most people. In the city, hardly any: single occupant cars daily clog roads on bus routes. Most people live in cities, so most people do not have the “need” to drive to work.

      Is this character really sneering at the free market society – the only kind that works – because of the price of petrol!

      One thing about a free market is that you don’t have to buy. If the whining motorists in cities stopped buying petrol and started using public transport, the price of petrol would soon drop. In a free market, consumers actually have a say, you dopes.

      Adding to his ignorance of the system is Frank Zumbo’s belief that “comrades” support free markets. The “comrades” (Reds) are the ones who want governments to control prices and stifle economies.

      And which of these so-called comrades want petrol prices to be higher? Who has ever heard anyone say the prices should be higher? Supply and demand sets prices, and it is the unnecessary demand for petrol by the whingers who don’t know how to catch a bus that is setting higher prices for petrol.

      The only thing Frank is right about is the waste of taxpayers’ money on a petrol commissioner; that appointment is typical of economically illiterate governments that like to misuse taxes to fool the punters into thinking they are doing something.

      Oh, and he is somewhat right about peak oil/prices too.

      In the meantime, use a bit of commonsense you whinging motorists: exercise your ability and rights to refuse to consume.

      Reply

    • LC says:

      11:48am | 04/01/12

      I live in the outer suburbs. If I wanted to get to work exclusively using public transport, I’d have to spend 10 minutes walking to a bus stop for a trip to the station that takes about 30 minutes on a good day, to catch a train for that takes about 40 minutes to get to Flinders St to catch ANOTHER train that takes 30 minutes to get to the appropriate station, then a 15 minute walk to get from the station to work. When you factor in wait times, that’s a between 1hour 35 minutes (assuming wait times of <5 minutes for each mode) and over 3 hours (assuming I just miss each mode and am forced to wait for the next) to get to work. I start at 8:30 so that means I’d have to get up at 5:00 am to shower/shave/breakfast before work, and I finish at 5:00-6:00 pm, meaning I’m home by 8:30-9:30 that night, right when all the dodgy types are hanging around. No thank you.

      On my motorbike, the trip takes about 40-50 minutes. Much easier to live with. Put up the price of petrol as high as you damn well like environazis, I’ll pay it.

    • Phil says:

      02:03pm | 04/01/12

      Public transport couldn’t handle a 25% increase in passengers let alone 50-75% if everyone was to abandon their cars.
      It may be built to provide transport from point A to B along their designated route but its not always the most efficient or quickest way, The part where public transport is “lacking” is that a simple 10-15km journey can take anywhere up to an hour and a half (no express trains and train swap at half way point)
      And that’s only one direction, the time lost each day isn’t worth it and the <$15 difference between my parking costs for the week and what the train ticket (weekly) would cost me makes the extra hour and a bit I have each day because i don’t catch the train worth my while.

    • zoe says:

      08:38am | 05/01/12

      My husband would take an hour an a half one way to work for a 20 minute car trip.  With bus tickets increasing in price, we bought a cheap small car and he is paying half the price in fuel as he was paying for a weekly bus ticket.

    • Perdix says:

      10:51am | 04/01/12

      so Frank, how do I access this fantastic web site whilst I’m driving down the road?

      Reply

    • Aussie Wazza says:

      11:12am | 04/01/12

      I have a Statesman V6 taxi fitted with L.P.G. and petrol. Running (fuel) costs are (about) 21 cents/ Km on unleaded petrol and 11 cents on L.P.G.; Quite a saving.

      Unfortunately the cost of installing a L.P.G. system is too high and requires driving a lot of kilometres to recover. Too many for the average private motorist, hence hard to justify.

      I don’t like paying $1.30 per Litre for petrol or even $0.55 for L.P.G. but thinking value for money, even on petrol I travel almost 5 kilometres for $1.00.

      With retards willing to pay up to $3.00 for a litre of stuff they can get FREE from any tap, or $30 for a pack of muck to smoke and injure (even kill) themselves, indications are there is heaps of money out there, so as a business, why wouldn’t they get as much as they can for whatever they are peddling?

      Reply

    • LC says:

      08:09pm | 06/03/12

      No water isn’t free from any tap. You’re billed for it at home, and your rates pay for water from public drinking fountains.

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      12:28pm | 04/01/12

      The Public don’t have a hope in hell of stopping any of this rip-off. We have a compliant ACCC which simply accepts what Coles, Woolworths & the Oil Companies tell it are the facts.
      We are supposed to have what they call “World Parity Pricing” for our fuels.
      When introduced, the Federal Government of the day told us that this meant we would pay, within a few cents, the same price for our fuel as comparable, developed economies such as the US, UK &, at the time, all those developed countries which make up the European Union.
      I have asked this question before but no-one seems to be able to give an explanation.
      “Why Is the Price of a barrel of what is called West Texas Crude, which the US & others, we are told, pay for their oil so much Cheaper than what we pay for what is called Tapis Crude?
      Same size barrel but, though today the difference is only about $US11 in recent weeks it has been as high as $US45+ per barrel more.
      Why the big difference?

      Reply

    • NigelC says:

      01:12pm | 04/01/12

      Oil will vary dramatically from field to field and there are a few ‘standards’ that are used for trading. West Texas Intermediate and Tapis asre two of those ‘standards’ however the two of them are are quite different.
      Tapis crude is classified as ‘extra light’ with a low sulphur content (0.03%) West Texas Intermediate is heavier and has 0.24% sulphur or eight-times as much sulphur per barrel. Light, sweet crude, like tapis crude,  is easier and cheaper to refine and therefore more expensive than heavier, ‘sour’ oil.  i.e. Tapis will (generally) be significantly more expensive than west Texas Crude.

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      06:38am | 05/01/12

      Nigel C
      Thanks for that but you raise another question!
      You say that TAPIS, being a lighter crude than WT, is easier & cheaper to refine than the West Texas variety.
      So why is TAPIS more expensive?
      Maybe my logic is a bit askew but if I can make a product more easily & more cheaply than my competitor can, (assuming I am not wanting to rip-off the people who buy my product)  I can, or rather should, sell my product at a lower price?
      Our pump prices are based on TAPIS crude, it is easier & cheaper to produce than WT so why is our petrol dearer?

    • NigelC says:

      02:26pm | 06/01/12

      The logic may seem a bit skewed but it is similar to gold versus silver. Gold is more desireable (better) than silver so its price is greater. In this case more people want sweet, light crude than heavy sour crude so its price is greater.

      In reality light crude is often mixed with heavy to make it easier to force through pipelines.

    • Utopia Boy says:

      01:06pm | 04/01/12

      I pay the equivalent of 33 cents (yes 33) per litre of fuel here in Oman. The price is set by the government, which is drilled, transported, refined and sold in Oman. The oil wells owned by the government are operated by Shell. Do you think Shell would do anything without significant profit? I think not.

      The cost of getting a barrel of oil out of the ground in Saudi Arabia is about USD 2.

      Petroleum companies constantly buy up patents for alternative energy sources and non petroleum engines (orbital engine anyone?). They do this because they can afford it. When the oil runs out or isn’t profit worthy anymore, they will again hold the keys to ripping you off, as they will have the technology, and set the price.

      There can be no doubt Australians, and much of the western world is suffering not so much from “gouging” as pure amputation. Our so called “motoring Bodies” are nothing but fronts for insurance companies. It’s much easier to find articles from the NRMA urging the government to reduce speed limits than it is to hear them demanding better roads.

      Reply

    • Jane2 says:

      01:34pm | 04/01/12

      If you think you are being riped off in your cities/towns, try Canberra! It is normally 10 cents a litre cheaper at Gundagai and Goulburn than it is in Canberra so I never ever leave town with a full tank but make sure I return with an almost full one.

      I got a brilliant christmas present this yr. Petrol in Canberra on the 23rd was 1.46 (discount). I filled up in Gundagai at 1.38 and then in Geelong at 1.28. On the return trip filled up in Geelong before leaving at 1.25, filled up in Gundagai ay 1.40 to reach Canberra and see it selling for 1.52.

      Good thing my 45l tank lasts me 3 weeks here else i would really be complaining wink

      Reply

    • Scott says:

      01:44pm | 04/01/12

      What utter nonsense! They have recently been extending the price cycle in Melbourne so it DOESN’T go up on weekends or public holidays. Please get the basic facts right.

      Reply

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      08:11am | 05/01/12

      Good point, Scott!
      Why can’t they simply set an Average Price based on the previous weeks Tapis oil Price, every Monday?
      If the price of crude goes up that is reflected within hours, though the fuel held in storage was bought at the cheaper price.
      When the price of crude drops it takes the oil co’s days,if not up to a week, to drop the price at the pump.
      I would far prefer to have a uniform price 7 days per week than have to chase around fitting in a fill-up on one or two days when it is cheaper.

    • Phil says:

      02:38pm | 04/01/12

      Something interesting is that our closest neighbor NZ doesn’t have the same huge cycles of price variance, it goes up or down a few cents if you are lucky when the market price changes and that’s it.
      And yes they already pay much more for fuel (Ive paid $2.22NZD per/L 91ron in NZ before) but dont have the same cycle as we do which is strange.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      12:47am | 05/01/12

      Give diesels a miss ; I read that, in a petrol engine within 5 years, the spark from plugs will be laser activated, that they will fire at a greater rate than is the case now, subsequently the engine will rev more with less fuel intake, thus the engine will work less.
      That’s the theory ... at any rate, the technology for getting from A to B is getting so ‘simple’, (that’s gotta be almost ‘back to nature’, huh ?) that you’d hope there’s a spin-off to other technologies : maybe a 2 wheeler that makes us fitter as we go, doesn’t cost anything to power, the batteries don’t go flat, and the prangs don’t kill ?

      ps I hope you all got bikes for Chrissy.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      08:04am | 05/01/12

      I was interested in reading the article until it started up with ‘free market theorist’ this and ‘comrade’ that.

      I happily pay for 98 or 95 petrol to put into my gas-guzzling V8 every week, because it’s still the cheapest liquid that goes into it.  Even at $1.50 p/ltr it is cheaper than Mount Franklin water and now only 50c more expensive than milk.

      Until we run out of it, gas companies won’t have any incentive to look for a greener option.  So keep happily burning it…

      Reply

    • John T says:

      08:34am | 05/01/12

      Banking, groceries and oil - the three biggest price fixing cartels outside of Medellin.

      Reply

    • Seth Brundle says:

      11:53am | 05/01/12

      The public can’t change anything.

      One thing I have learned over the years is that you can never get ahead.  If we all switch to electric cars, the price of electricity will increase.  If we all switch to public transport, the cost of public transport will skyrocket.  If we all power our homes solely with solar power, completely independant of the grid, we will get a solar tax based on the power output of your solar panels. 

      The sad fact is that the average cost of living will always be such that the average income earner can only just afford it.  The only way to improve your situation is to NOT be an average income earner.

      Whatever the future of transport is for this country, you can be sure it will be priced in a way that it will be only just affordable by the majority of people.

      Reply
 
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