Petrol costs to stay high over Christmas holidays

Motorists driving across the country throughout the busy Christmas period will be hit with lingering pain at the bowser, with Sydney prices remaining stubbornly high. Here’s how much it will cost.

Motorists driving across the country throughout the busy Christmas period will be hit with lingering pain at the bowser, with Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne outstripping Sydney as the most expensive cities to fill up.

It’s not all good news for Sydney drivers, with prices remaining stubbornly high, according to new pre-Christmas analysis of national petrol price cycles from the NRMA.

Regular unleaded petrol cost an average of 189.1 cents a litre across Sydney on Wednesday, having fallen just 11 cents from a 200.6 peak over the previous 16 days – half the usual rate.

Prices in Melbourne are rising as Christmas nears, with an average of 192 cents a litre on Wednesday, while Brisbane’s petrol price is expected to start to drop after hitting a high point of 203.8 cents per litre.

Drivers in South Australia are enjoying the country’s lowest prices, with unleaded petrol in Adelaide at 168.9 a litre, while Perth prices have also peaked at 196 cents according to the NRMA’s analysis.

Canberra is expected to remain stable with current prices at 196.4 cents, while Hobart (184.4) and Darwin (175.5) are slowly rising.

Yigit Yilmaz, a Double Bay-based Uber driver, says he has to drive for long periods to find service stations with cheaper petrol. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the pressure was on oil companies to pass on savings at the bowser, while urging drivers to take a valuable moment to seek out where cheap options for fuel were in their area.

“It’s pleasing the cycle is falling in Sydney, what’s less pleasing is that those falls are happening at a snail’s pace at two thirds of a cent per day – the oil companies must fix this now,” Mr Khoury said.

“Brisbane and Melbourne have had less luck with the price cycles as their local prices will spike just as families are heading away. Cost of living pressures continue to hurt families who are in desperate need of a break and unfortunately geography will largely dictate how much they pay this Christmas.”

Yigit Yilmaz, a Double Bay-based Uber driver, said despite doing his research to find cheaper stations to fill up at, the cost of petrol was still a big burden coming into the holiday season.

“I am finding the prices really expensive and hard to deal with, especially at this time of year. I had to travel over 20 minutes to come to this petrol station just so I could save ten bucks, and it’s still too much,” he said.

Regular unleaded petrol cost an average of 189.1 cents a litre across Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer

“This time of the year, it’s holiday season, there are so many expenses. With petrol being this high how can you afford everything (else)?”

Mr Khoury said the My NRMA reward app could be used by drivers to try hunt out the cheapest prices.

“The NRMA is working to fix that imbalance by providing discounts, real-time data of local prices and crucially, telling our members the right time to fill up through our My NRMA rewards app,” he said.

“We are encouraging all motorists to use this information to their benefit these holidays.”

Originally published as Petrol costs to stay high over Christmas holidays