The Australian Competitions and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released its report on the Australian petroleum market, revealing the price of petrol in 2018-19 was the highest for four years.
The report shows that in Australia’s five largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, the average annual petrol price in 2018-19 was 141.2¢ per litre (cpl), nearly seven cpl higher than last year.
Announcing the new figures, Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims said the most significant contributor to the increase was the depreciation over the year in the Australian dollar against the United States dollar.
“A significant development in the petrol industry in the first half of 2019 has been the change in price setter at retail sites by Coles Express, to Viva Energy, and Woolworths, to EG Group,” Mr Sims said.
“The report found that compared with market average prices, Coles Express prices were lower in most capital cities after Viva Energy began setting prices. However, they remained above the market average price in all eight capital cities.”
He said that at Woolworths, prices were higher in most capital cities after EG Group took over the retail sites, although in the majority of cities, prices were still below the market average price.
“Retail petrol prices in the three smaller capital cities, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin, are typically higher than prices in the five largest cities,” Mr Sims said.
“However, the report noted that, in the first half of 2019, there were periods when prices in Darwin and Canberra were below prices in the five largest cities.”
The ACCC’s 69-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
