Rewarding cheapest petrol stations could help prevent 'outrageous' price hike from continuing: NRMA

Petrol prices in the territory skyrocketed 15 cents in the first two weeks of the new year, a jump that shocked ACT NRMA spokeswoman Kate Lundy.

While anticipating Canberrans, along with the rest of the world, would pay for increased oil prices as a result of the OPEC decision to cut oil production, she said the price hike came before those ramifications have surfaced.

"The steep jump is outrageous,” Ms Lundy said. 

“Retailers need to be able to attribute price rises, and if it is arbitrary, questions are rightly asked about the motivation for the increases.”

"It would be disingenuous for retailers to increase the price again in the very near future and say that's attributable to the OPEC increase."

One question she had was whether there was petrol gouging as a result of increased traffic during Summernats. She stressed this was a question rather than an accusation.

Australian Institute of Petroleum figures showed fuel prices in the capital jumped considerably mid-October from 118 cents per litre to 129 cents, and stayed relatively stable until the most recent soar shortly after Christmas. 

As of Friday, Canberrans were paying 133.9 cents per litre on average - up from 128.9 cents on the previous week's average. Those figures - which were on par with Thursday's - were between three and four cents higher than neighbouring Yass and Goulburn and two cents higher than Sydney, though they were slightly trailing Batemans Bay.

Ms Lundy suggested people actively support businesses offering the lowest prices and pressure retailers that have been potentially overcharging.

"It is very tough for motorist to go out of their way to fill their cars but the NRMA encourages them to do so to make competition work in their community," Ms Lundy said.

"It's of course impacting what income families have available to spend especially when they are travelling long periods in the holiday period."

While the surge is likely to sting pockets, some bowsers have bucked the trend and offered below-average prices. On Friday, Canberrans could buy unleaded at an average of 125.9 cents per litre at Fyshwick’s Metro Petroleum and in Majura at Caltex/Woolworths and Costco.

But unless venturing to Queanbeyan, which has several petrol stations with similar prices, the bargains stopped there. According to the ACT Fuel Watch website, all other Canberra petrol stations started their unleaded prices at 140 cents per litre.