The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned petrol retailers not to use the current health pandemic to further increase their profits.
Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims said the full benefit of falling oil prices should be passed on to motorists.
Noting that weekly average international crude oil prices had decreased by almost $80 per barrel since the beginning of the year, Mr Sims said this had largely flowed through to Australian wholesale petrol prices, which have decreased by around 50c per litre in the same period.
“Over the same period, seven-day rolling average petrol prices across the five largest cities — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth — have decreased by around 45c per litre,” Mr Sims said.
“In these larger Australian capital cities, petrol retailers took too long to pass on the savings from the rapid drop in international oil prices and this did not reflect well on them.”
He said that in Hobart, Canberra and Darwin as well as many regional locations, retail prices had been even slower to come down and the extent of the falls had varied widely.
“Price changes in regional centres can lag up to six weeks behind changes in the larger capital cities, because the turnover of stock is generally lower in the country,” Mr Sims said.
“The reduction in demand for petrol due to current travel restrictions may have further exacerbated the lag,” he said.
“We have previously found that the lack of vigorous and effective competition in some regional locations was a major reason for higher prices in those locations.”
He said that especially at this difficult time, retailers must not take advantage of the situation to increase their profits, but should pass on savings to motorists
“The Australian economy needs all the assistance it can get,” he said, “and lower world crude oil prices are one of the few positives from current world events.”
