Watchdog to probe excessive country fuel prices

JOHN ROLFE, PADDY NAUGHTIN
JANUARY 14, 2015
HERALD SUN
AUSTRALIA’S competition head will launch a formal investigation into the disparity between country and city petrol prices.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission probe came after it discovered the gap between city and country petrol prices opened up by a further $6 a tank in just six months.
And it intends to find out why, using “compulsory information-gathering powers” for the first time, seeking evidence of cartel or anti-competitive behaviour.
PREVIOUSLY: Melbourne unleaded prices at four-year low
Research published today by the ACCC proves drivers outside the mainland state capitals are being denied much of the 35 cents-per-litre (c/L) plunge in the wholesale cost of fuel since July.
The average gap between regional and metropolitan prices has widened from 5.7c/L in mid 2014 to 17.6c/L in December.
That extra 12c/L costs owners of the nation’s most popular car, the 50L Toyota Corolla, an extra $6 a tank, increasing the mark-up from about $3 per refill to $9.
Nationally, the biggest rort appears to be in Toowoomba in Queensland, where motorists have gone from paying less than the major-city average to 21.1c/L more.
Regional Victorian centres didn’t fare much better with Benalla, Lakes Entrance and Echuca some of the hardest hit areas of the state.
In Benalla, the price differential has increased from just 5.2c/L in July to 20c/L in December.
At Lakes Entrance, it has jumped from 2.9c/L to 23c/L, and in Echuca, it’s gone from 1.5c/L to 19.5c/L.
Lyle Cook, 89, from Baddaginnie near Benalla, was outraged while filling up his car at the pump.
“Don’t get me started on it,” Mr Cook said.
“It’s the same product but we’re paying a lot more just because we don’t live in Melbourne
“I’ll put $50 in and not get as much as people from there.”
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said price falls sometimes took a while to flow through to regional areas due to lower sales volumes. But the savings from the oil price slump should have materialised by now.
“This is a hell of a lag,” Mr Sims said.
The ACCC would do “micro studies” of prices in three unnamed regional centres using compulsory information-gathering powers recently activated by Consumer and Competition Minister Bruce Billson.