Sydney motorists are enjoying a temporary reprieve from high petrol prices this Christmas, but longer price cycles in major cities continue to strain family budgets and fuel inflation.
Sydney is experiencing an unusual Christmas/New Year holiday at the petrol bowser. After reaching 200.6¢ per litre earlier in the month, on Monday petrol prices dropped significantly. This respite from high petrol prices stands in stark contrast to the recent trend of fuel companies charging Sydney motorists well above competitive prices.
NRMA analysis of 2024 prices found that Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, the three most populous cities, where competition should drive prices down, were among the most expensive, trailing only Canberra. More competition and real-time data in Darwin transformed it from the nation’s most expensive fuel titleholder to the second cheapest after Perth. The price of unleaded petrol in Sydney was 9.7¢ per litre more than Perth, and 8.9¢ more in Melbourne. For an average family that fills one 55-litre tank with unleaded petrol once a week, the annual bill is $277 more in Sydney compared to Perth, and $255 more in Melbourne. Part of the problem stems from differing state pricing regimes. Perth, for instance, has a one-week price cycle among fuel retailers, while service stations in the nation’s biggest capital cities consistently cycle their prices over a six-week period, which is too long for motorists to wait out high price periods before they fill their tanks. Prices also take about two weeks to shift from the lowest point to the peak, but they remain elevated for weeks and they take about a month to return to the bottom. In Perth, the same cycle takes just seven days.NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said price cycles in Australia’s largest cities continued to affect family budgets and the rate of inflation. “Longer price cycles in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne are no friend of the Australian motorist nor our economy with a cost-of-living election looming in 2025,” Khoury said. The Albanese government has moved on some aspects of fuel pricing. Its mandatory pollution caps on new car sales come into effect on January
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