I used to track petrol prices on the ACCC website and filled up around the bottom of the price curve. Lately I have noticed that prices have just stayed low, the 10-12 day peak-to-trough cycle has changed. Is this just due to the dropping crude price or what?
What's happening to petrol prices in Sydney?
Lskimp on 12/09/2014 - 09:12
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I believe the ACCC had an investigation into petrol pricing a couple of months ago.. it must have made them watch their game a little.
You can bet the rip off and tricks will continue in the very near future.
You guessed correctly- world crude oil prices have dropped about 12% in the past 3 months.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
Terminal Gate Price has dropped 10+ cents since the start of July, before this it had generally hovered around the low to mid 140s since early December last year. Looks like the 'bottom' of a cycle is getting longer, and if Adelaide is any guide the 'top' of a cycle may be getting longer too, the average price hasn't moved in over a week (albeit, a peak of 145 is a lot better than a peak of 160).
So, nobody knows when to raise their prices, and when everyone finally has raised their prices, it's taken so long that nobody is in any hurry to drop them again.
Yeah last month we (Adelaide) had a 2-3 week period of low price ~$1.32 and we're now going through the reverse of a 2+ week period of high price ~$1.45.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/157283
I was lucky and filled up the day before the price change.. down to 1/4 tank now, so hanging for the price to decline again.
Same in Melb.
Wholesale price has been relatively flat yet the price hasn't gone up like it normally would have by now (as it has done the whole year so far except in Jan.)
Must be one of those unnatural 'natural cycles' the petrol companies love to talk about.Edit: Yes, it dropped in July but it's been fairly flat since the last week of July, yet the normal retail cycle was still happening until the middle of Aug.
The ACCC is taking the big fuel retailers to court due to alleged price fixing. Apart from falling crude prices I wonder if the current flat prices is the retailers' reaction to the court case? ie - they have stopped colluding on prices.
Well if it is I'm sure it will work - it's not like anyone's going to notice lower/stable petrol prices!
coincidence they also stop updating their (accc) logged petrol prices on their website around the same time? i think not.
i can say that petrol prices HAVE BEEN LOWER now that the historical logging of petrol prices have ceased than when when that data was freely available.
coincidence?
No, the same data can be tracked here
https://www.informedsources.com/petrol-pricing.aspx
(and it's suspected that ACCC were just republishing that data)The ACCC graphs have
Source: Informed Sources Pty. Ltd.
at the bottom so yes :)
Thanks for that link, wasn't aware of it. Adelaide's is so weird, it's as if there won't even be a cycle there any more like Hobart or Canberra.
Haven't seen a price rise in about 3 weeks I think?
The one Caltex that I did see raise the price, was the only one to do so, and they went pretty quite for that period lol
Wholesale price is creeping up - is now at same level as 6 weeks ago, although the last time it was at even this current increased price was November last year!
$89 a barrel
Wish we could get some lower petrol prices around here!!!!
Probably just biding their time for a week or two until school holidays hit before that put them up again.