How much you should be paying for petrol this summer

The RACV has recommended motorists don’t pay more than 145.9 cents per litre for petrol at the moment.

But Chief Executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers’ Association, Mark McKenzie, says that figure is likely too low.

“It actually varies widely depending upon the margins, the cost of selling the fuel and then the profit the businesses take, but just to give you an idea … the current wholesale price, that is the price the service station pays to have the fuel delivered before you consider their costs … is $1.46,” he told Shane McInnes, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

“Typically the average is somewhere between 10 cents, 14 cents, 16 cents per litre on top of that to cover their costs, so when you do those sums you’re talking about something like $1.58 or $1.60.”

Mr McKenzie says petrol prices will only go up in coming weeks.

He says the domestic petrol price cycle, where retailers undercut each other and drive down prices, usually lasts six or seven weeks before prices begin to rise again.

“We’re 45 days, so just over seven weeks, into the cycle,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear Mr McKenzie’s petrol price predictions