Fluctuating fuel prices and the Government

Posted by: Nefertari

19th Jul 2018 01:27pm

My husband and I were out driving the other day and passed a petrol station where the price of petrol was $1.29...."that's not bad" I thought compared to what the price had been in the past few weeks. So you can imagine my astonishment when we drove back home a couple of hours later to find that the price had risen dramatically to $1.59 a litre! How can this sort of thing happen and what is the government doing about fluctuating fuel prices? Just when are they going to step in and tell the oil companies 'enough is enough'!

Rossco

17th Oct 2018 11:54am

The wholesale price of fuel or Terminal Gate Price is reasonably controlled and reflects the price of crude oil in Singapore allowing for refining, freight etc. You can look this up on line as most of the fuel companies list it on their web site. Since Coles and Woolworths entered the fuel market they have progressively been moving up the retail market price. They are very good at retailing and consequently margins at the pump can be as high as 25cpl plus at the top of the market. This is where the public are really being ripped off. In markets like Brisbane where there are a lower number of Independent Operators the price stays higher because of reduced competition. The government focus needs to be on controlling this retail margin at say 12cpl. Competition on pricing is a good thing and should not be controlled in any way as this will work against the consumer. The public should watch pricing at boycott sites that are not competitive. Has anyone noticed Coles and Shell sites are now invariably the highest priced whilst Woolworths (normally) and 7/11 are the lowest ?. Rossco

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