Motorists are being warned to fill up while they can ahead of a massive 40 cent spike in petrol prices next week.
The dramatic surge, which many have already begun to notice at the bowser, comes nearly a month after the former government’s 50 per cent cut of the fuel excise expired on September 28.
RACQ fuel expert Ian Jeffreys told The Australian Financial Review fuel prices in the major eastern cities would jump by about 40 cents within a week and could hit $2.14.
According to NRMA, the average price for regular unleaded is $1.76 in Sydney, $1.82 in Melbourne, $1.75 in Brisbane and $1.78 in Perth and Adelaide.
Dr Jeffreys said the end of the cheap phase of the price cycle in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney was kicking in, and had previously “masked” the effect of the return of the fuel excise.
“The strong message is fill up now – don’t end the week with an empty tank,” he told the newspaper.
“We are primed to see the price cycle turn. In the next week, or in the coming days, we are very likely to see a jump in these markets.
“Margins leading into the excise return were fairly generous, so when they did jump they went higher than normal and absorbed the resumption of the fuel excise.”
The 22.1 cents per litre discount was introduced in the March budget as a temporary measure to ease pressure on petrol prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Labor declined to extend.
According to NSW’s FuelCheck, the cheapest petrol on Wednesday was $1.62 at TEMCO Petroleum on Waterloo Road in Greenacre.
The most expensive in the state was $2.46 at White Cliffs Outback Store, in the tiny town 255km northeast of Broken Hill.
Prices are also being affected by global factors, including the recent decision by OPEC to cut oil production by two million barrels a day.
It comes after the latest inflation figures released on Wednesday showed consumer prices in Australia rising at the fastest pace in three decades.
September-quarter data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the Consumer Price Index rose at an annual rate of 7.3 per cent, driven by rising cost of goods as a result of high freight costs, supply constraints and prolonged elevated demand.
While automotive fuel was down 4.3 per cent over the three months due to higher global oil supply, prices are still up 18 per cent year-on-year.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday declared inflation was “public enemy number one”.
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