Lag in fule price finally catches up
Goldfielders are finally reaping the benefits of the so-called "fuel price lag", with the average price remaining a few cents lower than the city for the third week.
FuelWatch figures this week showed the average price of unleaded petrol in the region was 133.5 cents a litre, lower than 135.2c in the metropolitan area.
This relief follows a painful stint over the Christmas period, where local prices were close to 30 cents a litre higher than in the city, reflecting a gap across the country that triggered an ACCC inquiry into regional pricing.
FuelWatch co-ordinator Kyle Huynh said the fuel price victory could be short lived, with prices expected to creep up again over the next few weeks.
"We would recommend that if you can fill up, fill up now," he said.
"Perth prices have been going up and Kalgoorlie has been starting to do that as well … because Kalgoorlie will lag behind Perth's past price movements up to four weeks or longer."
Mr Huynh attributed the lag in country areas to lower sales volume and slower turnover of stock, stating freight costs only play a small part in price increases in the regions.
Kalgoorlie MLA Wendy Duncan disagreed, arguing Southern Cross had a lower price of fuel than Kalgoorlie-Boulder last year despite a "considerably smaller" consumption of fuel.
"If that lag stays representative of what we dealt with through the fall, if it was four weeks before we felt the benefit of the fall then it should be four weeks before we feel the pain of the rise," she said.
"And this is what I think was annoying consumers over summer, is that the fall in fuel price didn't seem to be flowing through as quickly as it should have.
"An indication of that was the price of fuel was considerably cheaper in Southern Cross than that of Kalgoorlie, and there was just no logic to that."
Ms Duncan instead praised the efforts of the community in contacting the ACCC and rallying together to bring the price down for relief the city was now experiencing.
"It is really good to know now that fuel prices are probably more accurately reflecting world market prices than perhaps a bit of opportunism in gouging out some extra profit as the price falls," she said.
"Perhaps fuel retailers know that the ACCC and the people are watching and so are keeping prices at the level they should be."
Despite a higher average fuel price, Perth drivers can still get a better deal at the pump due to aggressively competitive retailers driving their prices down.
Yesterday, the best price for unleaded in Perth was 120.1c a litre, compared with 125.5c in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
