Petrol prices across Australia have hit a three-year low, while Brisbane motorists had to tolerate the biggest gap between retail and wholesale prices in the country.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) latest petrol monitoring report showed the quarterly average for retail petrol prices decreased in the December quarter 2024.
ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said the average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, were 179.8 cents per litre (cpl), a decrease of 3 cpl from the previous quarter.
Ms Brakey said this represented a three-year low in real (inflation adjusted) terms, with the decrease largely due to lower international prices for refined petrol.
“A range of international factors which influence the prices of commodities like crude oil have led to prices at the bowser easing from the higher levels that were seen in early 2024.” she said.
Ms Brakey said average gross indicative retail differences across the five largest cities were 17.2 cpl in the December quarter 2024, an increase of 1.6 cpl from the previous quarter.
She said the gross indicative retail differences was a broad indicator of gross retail margins, including retail operating costs and profits.
“Quarterly average gross indicative retail differences can vary between cities, and were lowest in Perth (9.6 cpl) and highest in Brisbane (24.1 cpl).
“In 2024, annual average gross indicative retail differences across the five largest cities were 16.3 cpl, which is slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.”
Ms Brakey said around two in five consumers (or 41 per cent) reported using fuel price apps to shop around for cheaper fuel in 2024.
She said this was up from 34 percent in 2022.
“Taking advantage of the available information through apps and websites can be well worth it to find retailers with lower fuel prices in your area and to save money on fuel.”
