Country prices expose Perth petrol rip-off: RAC

04 November 2009

Perth motorists filling up at some BP stations today will be paying up to 11 cents a litre more for petrol than motorists in the South West of the State.

BP has raised its prices by more than 16 cents to 129.9cents a litre at a number of its Perth metropolitan service stations.

But BP stations in the South West of the State are charging as little as 118.9cents a litre, with more than a dozen BP country service stations charging below the 129.9cents a litre price facing metro motorists.

Even BP stations as far away as Albany are charging lower prices than BP stations in suburbs like Applecross, Cottesloe and Cannington.

Caltex is charging 129.9cents a litre in Mandurah, nine cents a litre more than it is charging at some stations in the South West and two cents a litre more than in Albany.

RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown said the figures confirmed that petrol companies were manipulating Perth prices to disadvantage motorists.

“How can a company charge 11 cents a litre more for petrol in suburban Perth than it does in country regions,” Mr Brown said.

“Are they seriously arguing that it costs more to distribute and sell petrol in Applecross and Cannington than it does in places like Picton, Bunbury, Busselton and Manjimup?

“This is ridiculous and just shows that Perth motorists are being taken for a ride.

“It may look like country motorists are getting a bargain but the reality is Perth motorists are simply being asked to pay an inflated price.

“This is a cynical move by the petrol companies to drag the average metropolitan price up by Thursday and Friday when almost one third of petrol purchases are made.

“Motorists should use their power as consumers and not pay any more than the FuelWatch listed average price of 115.1cents a litre.”

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