Quarterly average petrol prices increased more in Canberra than any other major capital city late last year, but other capital cities are now feeling the ACT's fiscal pain as they record rising prices on the back of higher international benchmark prices in January and February.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released its December quarter report in which the ACT had the highest average retail petrol price at 201.7 cents per litre, up 4.3 cents on the previous quarter.
Only three capital cities - Canberra, Adelaide and Darwin - recorded increased average price rises during the quarter. Surprisingly, Hobart had the largest fall, down 3.7cpl to an average 194.8cpl to the end of December. Perth had the cheapest fuel average across the quarter at 189.3cpl.
Canberra hit harder
The ACCC looks at prices across 190 locations around the country and during the final quarter of 2023, motorists in regional and country areas - in which Canberra is included by the ACCC for its recording purposes - paid around 4 cents a litre more than those in the five "big" capital cities.
International refined prices, which are driven by crude oil prices, together with the Australian to US dollar exchange rate, are cited by the ACCC as the two biggest drivers of petrol pricing, with Singapore Mogas 95 unleaded as the relevant benchmark for petrol prices in Australia.
Across the country, petrol sales volumes in the December quarter last year - traditionally when most petrol is sold through the year - reached 2.229 million litres, still well below the pre-pandemic peak of over 2.5 million litres in December 2019.
65c per litre to federal Treasury
The higher the bowser price goes, the more excise and GST the federal government collects on every litre pumped. According to the ACCC, during the December quarter, on every litre of fuel purchased by every motorist, around 65 cents went into the federal Treasury.
"While average retail petrol prices in the five largest cities decreased in the [December] quarter, they were still at relatively high levels after international factors drove average retail prices to the highest on record in nominal terms in the September quarter 2023," ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
The ACCC has noted that for the full year of 2023, annual average gross retail price differences between all monitored stations have returned to pre-pandemic levels in real terms. In other words, the huge price disparity which existed during the pandemic - which reached its peak of around 20 cents per litre in December 2020 - has now narrowed significantly as more normal driving conditions have returned.
Good news for diesel drivers
Some of the best news recently is for diesel vehicle owners. The rolling monthly average price of diesel has steadily fallen since October last year when premium diesel, according to the government-regulated FuelCheck app, reached an average peak of 222.2 cents per litre in our region.
On Tuesday, by far the cheapest premium diesel (which is based off the Singapore Gasoil price) in the ACT region was available at Costco Majura, priced at 194.7 cents per litre.
However, any diesel vehicle owners driving to Sydney would be well advised to check NSW prices because on the same day, the Hill and Co diesel depot at Goulburn had it even cheaper at 187.9cpl.
"The ACCC encourages motorists in Canberra to use the FuelCheck app and website to shop around for lower priced retailers, as there can often be a range of prices available," the commission report said.
"The Australian Capital Territory government decided to continue real-time retail fuel price reporting after completing a recent review in October 2023."
