The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) is seeking comments on its draft report on monitoring the wholesale and retail markets for ethanol used in fuel blends like E10.
Ethanol-blended petrol remains widely available in NSW, with more nozzles dispensing E10 than regular unleaded petrol.
IPART Chair, Paul Paterson said the Tribunal had found that, similar to previous years, E10 retail prices across New South Wales were on average 2.3 cents per litre lower than regular petrol prices.
Dr Paterson said sales of E10 (which contains 10 per cent ethanol) as a proportion of total NSW petrol sales were around 25 per cent, down from 27 per cent last year.
“This is less than the 60 per cent that would need to be sold if all retailers were meeting the ethanol mandate,” Dr Paterson said.
IPART is required to monitor the retail market for E10 under the Biofuels Act 2007.
“IPART also determines a wholesale price for ethanol based on what it would cost for retailers to buy it from overseas,” he said.
Dr Paterson said the review considered the competitiveness of both the retail market for E10 and the wholesale market for ethanol.
He said comments on the draft report Ethanol market monitoring 2018/19 were due by 21 November.
The 11-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
