Petrol price hikes over NYE holidays

Motorists preparing for their New Year holidays are being urged to shop around to avoid being severely bitten at the bowser. Figures show the gap between the highest and lowest prices charged in Sydney for ordinary unleaded petrol (ULP) has reached record levels.

The 7-Eleven service station at Greenacre was charging just $1.37.9c per litre for ULP yesterday, 29c less than the Caltex/Woolworths outlet at North Ryde at $1.66.9c.

Some service stations - the Coles Express outlets at Cremorne, Cammeray, North Ryde and Annandale - were heading towards $2 a litre, charging $1.84.9c for premium unleaded petrol, which now makes up about 28 per cent of the market.

The NRMA's Bowser Buster fuel search service and the Motormouth consumer fuel price search website found the average price for ULP in Sydney yesterday was $1.56.8c but NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said it had risen to 161.6c by early evening.

"That is - we believe - way too high,'' Mr Khoury said. "We think that the Australian people deserve an explanation as to why this is happening.''

The average price for ULP in Sydney 12 months ago was $141.3c. Mr Khoury said if a service station was charging close to 30c a litre more than a competitor it was charging itself out of the market: "The prices they are charging are far too exorbitant and unnecessary. Anyone charging $1.67 a litre (for unleaded) is having a laugh."

Mr Khoury said, based on trends in petrol price cycles, the price was expected to peak on January 1 before it fell by as much as 10c a litre in coming weeks.

Latest Australian Competition & Consumer Commission figures showed that, in the 30-day period ending December 29, the average daily price of unleaded petrol in Sydney fluctuated between $1.41 and $1.57. Mr Khoury said drivers who had to fill up in coming days should use the NRMA site and shop around.

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