Fuel price gouge hits rural drivers
Motorists in regional WA dipped out when oil prices plummeted, with drivers in some towns $26 a tank worse off than in Perth.
Competition watchdog figures reveal motorists in places such as Albany, Bunbury and Busselton have been financially punished at the bowser.
Between July and January, the monthly average price of unleaded petrol in Perth fell to $1.15 from $1.54 a litre because of the sharp fall in global oil prices.
But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found nowhere outside Perth had such big falls in prices.
The worst-hit motorists were in Port Hedland. Unleaded averaged $1.66 a litre through July. Last month, this fell to only $1.52 a litre, a 14� a litre fall.
This contributed to a massive widening in the gap between the Port Hedland and Perth average price, which through 2013-14 was 16.3¢ a litre. Through January, however, the price difference was 42.8¢, or almost $26 a tank.
Motorists in other regional centres felt the same pain.
Karratha was also $26 a tank worse off compared with Perth.
Broome drivers were $20 a tank in the red, in Geraldton it was $14 and Collie drivers paid $12.20 more per tank than in Perth.
ACCC chair Rod Sims said many other regional centres across the country also failed to benefit from sharp falls in prices that flowed to capital cities.
The commission was now looking at a separate study into why regional motorists faced long delays to get cheaper fuel.
The aim was to give more transparency and empower consumers to choose when and where to buy petrol and so affect prices.
RAC vehicles and fuels manager Alex Forrest said that while freight costs pushed up regional petrol prices, they were not the reason for the wide discrepancy.
"The limited competition between fuel retailers in regional WA also remains a concern for the RAC," he said.
The Australian Automobile Association said it was clear regional motorists were left behind.
