ACCC demands meeting with petrol companies following price hikes
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The news: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sought a meeting with major petrol companies including 7-Eleven, Ampol, BP, Chevron, Mobil, United Petroleum, Viva Energy and EG Australia to discuss recent price increases following its latest fuel monitoring update.
The update showed prices in petrol and diesel have increased as rapidly as wholesale prices, which is unusual.
The context: The regulator found that the Australian refined international petrol and diesel benchmark prices had risen more sharply than expected, which then flowed through to domestic wholesale prices and retail prices.
The report also showed that Darwin recorded the highest daily average petrol and diesel retail prices among the eight capital cities on Wednesday, while Canberra had the lowest. Perth saw the largest increase in average petrol prices of 59.5 cent per litre (cpl) between 20 February and 11 March.
The ACCC said pricing data indicated that after the start of the Middle East conflict, daily average retail petrol prices increased almost immediately alongside wholesale prices, rather than following the typical lagged response.
The regulator warned it would take action against any retailers found to have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct regarding price rises or breaches of competition laws.
What they said: “Fuel companies should be open and honest about the reasons for such widely varying and rapid increases across the country and treat their customers fairly. We urge petrol retailers to explain their positions to the Australian community,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
“We welcome government plans to move to increase the maximum penalties for relevant breaches of Australian Consumer Law and the Competition and Consumer Act from $50 million to $100 million and will seek the highest penalties appropriate in any cases we bring to the courts,” she added.
The source: ACCC
