‘Dizzying’ petrol price discrepancies across Melbourne

Fuel prices have begun to drop already, following the fuel excise cut in the federal budget.

Viva Energy, which provides fuel to about 700 Coles Express petrol stations, has already dropped its price by 10 cent per litre in all states except Western Australia.

Excise is charged at the terminal, so CEO Australasian Convenience & Petroleum Marketers, Mark McKenzie, says service stations usually have five-days worth of fuel in stock.

That means petrol stations which are already slashing their prices are selling below cost in some instances.

“The whole goal of a service station is to keep your volume high,” Mr McKenzie told Neil Mitchell.

“What you’ve actually seen is one big network that’s actually said ‘Well, we’re going to forgo a bit here and chase volume’.

“So you’ve got a situation now in Melbourne that the price varies from a low of $1.78 and you’ve still got those … the smaller businesses who can’t move, who are sitting at $2.19 — that’s a 41 cent difference.

“You get dizzy in this whole thing.”

The average unleaded petrol price across Melbourne last week was $2.18. This morning it has fallen to $1.86.

Press PLAY below to hear more on what’s expected to happen to fuel prices in coming weeks