January 20, 2015
Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd has drawn on his personal experience to call for an investigation into fuel prices in regional Queensland.
Mr O’Dowd said today he had asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate the various factors that dictate the price at the bowser.
“Being a fuel distributor for over 20 years, I can’t see how the ‘pump price’ can fluctuate by over 20 cents per litre from town to town or service station to service station,” Mr O’Dowd said.
“I might also add that the number of independent service stations has declined over the years and I wouldn’t recommend anyone going out and buying one without closely looking at the balance sheet, profit margins, overheads and bottom lines.”
Mr O’Dowd said he had asked the ACCC to look at how fuel prices in regional areas correspond to the various factors at play including:
- Buying price – this can vary from site to site
- Terms of trade – eg. cash on delivery
- Global oil prices – winter vs summer
- Movement in the Australian dollar
- Distance from a shipping terminal
- “Under canopy” discounting (eg. shopper dockets) by the major retailers
- Market advantage of the major retailers, Coles and Woolworths
- Drop sizes (underground storage)
- Turnover volume
- Fuel cards and fleet discounts
- Running secondary product lines such as convenience store items and fast food
- Training costs associated with handling dangerous goods
- Local competition
- Price cycles in metropolitan areas (eg. “mad Tuesdays”)
“Whilst I want answers to these questions, the best thing we can do now as consumers is to encourage competition by shopping around,” Mr O’Dowd said.
