NSW Treasurer says drivers can save up to $800 per year by shopping around, as fuel excise cut set to end

The NSW Treasurer has claimed drivers can save as much as $800 per year by doing one simple thing, as a discount on fuel is set to end this week.

The NSW Treasurer has urged motorists to do their research before fuelling up and has claimed filling up at cheaper stations can save drivers up to $800 a year.

The advice from Matt Kean comes as a six-month discount on a fuel tax is set to end on Wednesday.

He said prices could vary by up to 20 per cent in a single suburb, and different suburbs can have price differences as great as 50 per cent.

“Prices can vary greatly between petrol stations, so if you’re filling up a 50 litre tank and there’s a 20 cent difference between service stations, you’d save $10 by filling up at the cheaper one,” Mr Kean said.

“Driving a couple of hundred metres down the road to a cheaper servo can really pay off.”

Petrol prices can vary wildly between different servos. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Mr Kean’s office supplied exclusive data revealing the cheapest petrol stations in Sydney, with servos in Girraween, Bankstown, and Granville topping the list, which was compiled by analysing data from the government’s FuelCheck application over the past six months.

The average price of E10 fuel at the cheapest station, Liberty Girraween, was 156.2 cents per litre.

The same station sold U91 fuel for an average of 158.2 cents per litre.

Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello urged motorists to download the smartphone app, saying it’s currently being used by more than 2.2 million drivers.

“With high petrol prices right now, drivers can find the cheapest fuel anywhere in NSW in real-time in the palm of their hand,” he said.

“You could save up to $800 a year by using it regularly.”

Most of the cheapest stations were found in Sydney’s west and southwest, although servos in the inner west suburbs of Leichhardt and Croydon also made the list.

The fuel excise – a sales tax the federal government levies on petrol and diesel bought at the bowser – was cut in half by the former Scott Morrison government leading up to the May election.

The six-month discount was sold to voters as a targeted measure to ease the cost of living, although some experts slammed the move because the income from the fuel excise is meant to pay for transport projects.

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean urged drivers to do their research before filling up. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

The Grattan Institute has said the cut, estimated to cost about $3bn in lost revenue, would mostly benefit high income households.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky News Australia on Monday the country couldn't afford to keep the excise discount in place.

“We know that many people would prefer that to be otherwise, but we just can't afford it,” he said.

Peter Khoury, spokesman for motorists association NRMA, said fuel prices weren’t supposed to rise immediately when the excise cut ends on Wednesday.

That’s because petrol stations will have tanks full of cheaply bought fuel, and Mr Khoury argued the price for consumers should only rise when the tanks have been refilled with full-price petrol.

Petrol prices have fluctuated wildly in recent months. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

“Currently, service stations have 700 million litres of petrol sitting there, according to federal government data, and they have to sell through all of that and buy new stock before they can pass on the price increase to the public,” he said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission put servos on notice earlier this month, saying it wouldn’t hesitate to “take appropriate enforcement action” against stations which mislead consumers about the reasons for potential price increases.

Mr Khoury said the wholesale price of petrol had continued to fluctuate wildly in the past six months, even reaching a record high of 220 cents per litre for regular unleaded fuel, in June, while the excise cut was in place.

“If we’re gonna see any meaningful relief at the bowser, we’re going to need a fall in oil prices,” he said.

“Australians will have to brace themselves for tough times ahead at the bowser, and that’s why shopping around and doing your research is going to be so important.

“We don’t want Australians to pay one dollar more for petrol than they have to.”

The NRMA, which also has its own app, where members can hunt for cheap petrol, said the average wholesale price of petrol in Sydney on Monday was 148 cents per litre.

Originally published as NSW Treasurer says drivers can save up to $800 per year by shopping around, as fuel excise cut set to end