Brisbane petrol price gouge catching out motorists

These Queensland motorists are forking out as much as 40 cents a litre extra to fill up their tank and are now being urged to “top up not fill up”.

City motorists are getting slugged up to nearly 40 cents a litre more for petrol than their country counterparts alarming results show.

And suburban drivers are being urged to “top up not fill up” as prices are expected to continue to fall over the next fortnight down to within the 130c/l.

New analysis showed motorists are paying up to 175.9c/l for unleaded petrol compared to some regions such as Bundaberg, Townsville and Cairns where prices are in the 140c/l range.

City motorists are getting slugged up to nearly 40 cents a litre more for petrol than their country counterparts alarming results show. Picture: iStock

To fill up a 50 litre tank at 175.9c/l it costs $87.95 compared to paying to some of the cheapest bowser prices outside of the state’s capital at just 137.9c/l.

This would cost a motorist $68.95 to fill up a tank – a price difference of $19.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said “the prices in the regions really don’t change that much”.

“In the capital cities you see price cycles where they have more dramatic price movement,” he said.

“There’s nowhere else in the world that has this movement in prices.”

But Mr Khoury said prices have been higher than they are now in the capital cities.

“For premium fuel we almost nudged $2 when prices got really high late last year,” he said.

Figures from the Australian Institute of Petroleum found despite recent petrol price hikes in Brisbane the wholesale price for unleaded fuel has fallen in the past week from $112 per barrel on January 6 compared to $104 on January 14.

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But industry price monitoring service Fueltrac’s spokesman Chris Kable said city motorists don’t always get gouged.

“If you average that metropolitan price it would be lower on average than the regional areas over a petrol of a month or six weeks,” he said.

A spokesman for Viva Energy – which determines Coles Express outlet prices – said the price differences “can vary across metropolitan and regional areas, reflecting transport costs, competition and other local area factors”.

A BP spokesman also said their prices are impacted by a number of variants including “international product prices and competition between service stations in a local area.

“There are also other factors including exchange rates, taxes and operating costs.”

Motorists should use online comparison sites includes Petrol Spy to check up on prices before filling up at the bowser.

Fueltrac data shows the average unleaded petrol price in Brisbane yesterday (wed) was 171c/l.

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Originally published as Brisbane petrol price gouge catching out motorists