May 8, 2013
The RACQ has accused fuel retailers in regional Queensland of ripping off consumers and reaping bigger margins as fuel prices dropped in Brisbane last month.
The RACQ’s April Fuel Price Report found that the prices of ULP and diesel fell in Brisbane and most regional centres compared with March.
However ULP retail margins increased in regional Queensland. The highest increase was Cairns, up 7.1cpl on March to 22cpl.
The latest report on fuel prices by the State’s peak motoring body has found that motorists in major regional centres paid as much as 15 cents per litre (cpl) more on average than in Brisbane last month.
But there were still discounts to be had in regional areas.
The Sunshine Coast was cheapest place to buy ULP in April, with an average price of 138.1cpl. Gympie was cheapest place to buy diesel
RACQ spokesperson Joe Fitzgerald said fuel retailers had taken advantage of falling oil prices in April to “fatten their wallets at the expense of regional motorists”.
The RACQ’s Monthly Fuel Report revealed Brisbane’s average ULP price fell 7.4 cpl to 141.1 cpl in April.
Despite that, Brisbane remained more expensive than Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Mr Fitzgerald said that while the Sunshine Coast again offered the cheapest ULP in the State at an average of 138.1 cpl, other traditionally cheap regional centres weren’t so lucky.
“Motorists in Toowoomba (145.4cpl) and Warwick (143.4cpl) are usually among the cheapest places to buy fuel but even they weren’t immune to increased retail margins last month,” he said.
- Download the RACQ’s April Fuel Price Report (184kb PDF)
