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Canberra petrol prices remain stubbornly high, 10 cents cheaper across the border


Canberrans are being pumped at the bowser again, with petrol prices up to 10 cents cheaper across the border in Queanbeyan.

The stubbornly high fuel cost in the nation's capital compared to its regional neighbours and metropolitan counterparts has led to renewed calls for real-time price guides, but the ACT Government says that is not the solution.

Today the average price for unleaded petrol in Queanbeyan was 139 cents per litre. Just 17 kilometres away in Braddon, it was 149 cents per litre.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said it was "absurd" Canberrans had to leave their city to find cheaper petrol.

"The gap between the wholesale price and the retail price in the ACT is anywhere between 20 and 23 cents per litre, and the national average [of this gap] is about 11 cents a litre."

Data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum showed Canberra's average petrol and diesel price last week was the second highest of the capital cities at 148.4 cents per litre, trailing only Darwin.

This was well above the week's national metropolitan average of 135.5 cents per litre and the national regional average of 139.1 cents per litre.

Canberra and Hobart were also the only cities that did not see a drop in petrol prices that week.

The territory's price hike is a hangover from a pre-Christmas price spike that has failed to retreat.

But Canberrans are used to the sky-high prices, which Mr Khoury blamed on a lack of both competition and transparency.

"The ACT doesn't have a price cycle like Sydney or Melbourne or Adelaide or Brisbane, and part of the reason is there are no independents that are competing on price so there is no downward pressure on prices," she said.

"But the second reason is there is no effort to improve transparency in the market."

While the NSW Government introduced service station reporting laws in 2016 and launched a website that provides real-time fuel price information, there is no such tool in the ACT.

Canberra's latest sting has caused the NRMA to again call for the ACT Government to follow suit.

"It's something that should have happened a long time ago; it's something that should happen today," Mr Khoury said.

"If nothing else it makes the oil companies a little bit more responsible for prices it makes them a little bit harder to hide."

Oil companies price-gouging: Chief Minister

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the underlying problem was that oil companies were price-gouging customers, and that a real-time price tracker was not a "silver bullet".

"We can certainly look at that, but I want to caution it's not going to solve the issues people have," Mr Barr said

"It's oil companies noting [customers'] willingness to pay."

He said the best thing for customers to do was research the cheapest deals, which were usually found at Costco in Majura and its nearby outlets.

A "serious intervention" from the ACCC and increased competition were the only solutions to significantly drive down prices, he said.

"Costco did that — it helped for the region but not state-wide," Mr Barr said.

But he urged consumers to be cautious when chasing cheaper petrol.

"We already see in areas where there is competition that prices are lower," Mr Barr said.

"But in the end the issue is how far will you drive and how much extra petrol will you consume to save a few cents a litre, and people will do that maths in their head to work out that."