‘Doesn’t pass the pub test’: Sydney petrol prices reached highest ever in 2024

The average cost of unleaded petrol was the highest its ever been this year in Sydney. Now, the NRMA has called for an investigation.

Families in Australia’s biggest three cities are paying significantly more for petrol than in other parts of the country due to artificially inflated prices set by the big fuel retailers.

Sydney's average unleaded petrol price has risen to its highest ever this year, with the city sliding behind interstate capitals in terms of overall affordability.

Motoring groups have warned the Albanese government that if they don’t act to bring down the price of petrol, it could hurt them at the ballot box in the upcoming election.

Long retail price cycles of up to eight weeks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane meant that petrol prices were far higher than those with shorter cycles in Darwin and Perth.

Families in Australia’s biggest three cities are paying significantly more for petrol than in other parts of the country due to artificially inflated prices set by the big fuel retailers. Picture: Ben Clark

Price cycles are patterns of petrol prices, which are the result of pricing policies of big retailers and not from changes in the wholesale fuel cost.

An exclusive NRMA analysis of the price cycles found Sydney had the third highest petrol prices, at 191.1 cents per litre, after Canberra and Brisbane, despite being one of the largest markets with the most competition between retailers.

Additionally Sydney fuel prices have skyrocketed in the last seven years, going from 126.2 cents per litre in 2017. Sydney has also gone from having the second cheapest fuel in the state to the third most expensive.

Perth had the most affordable petrol prices at 181.4 cents per litre. Darwin, was the second cheapest at 182.5 cents per litre.

The analysis showed that the price of petrol had fallen dramatically in the Northern Territory from six years ago, when fuel was the second-most expensive in the country, after it increased more local competition and introduced real-time price data in 2017.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said fuel retailers should not take “motorists for mugs”. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the ACCC needed to conduct an immediate investigation into the effects of price cycles on the country’s three biggest cities during a cost of living crisis.

“Solving this problem in an election year will be absolutely critical,” he said.

“There is no justifiable reason for our biggest cities to be among the most expensive – it just doesn’t pass the pub test,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government did not want to see service stations “take Australian motorists for mugs”, and the “ACCC closely monitors prices to help people get the best deal at the petrol pump”.

Isaac Nicholls, 23, said the high price of petrol hit the hard during a cost of living crisis. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the ACCC needed to closely monitor the petrol price cycles on the east coast.

“Today’s new analysis is just another example of the additional cost of living burden faced by Australians under this Labor Government,” he said.

“Australians are struggling and should expect to be offered the best deal at the petrol pump.”

For average Australians the high price of petrol is hitting hard. Lewisham resident Isaac Nicholls, 23, said he was spending up to $85 a week on petrol.

“I try to tie my fill ups with the rise and fall of petrol prices, but it seems to rise and fall to the extremes overnight,” he said.

“I use 91, it’ll go from $1.95 one day all the way down to $1.60 depending on the (service) station.”

“It’s a hit on the wallet.”

Originally published as ‘Doesn’t pass the pub test’: Sydney petrol prices reached highest ever in 2024