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Australia: ACCC blasts petrol outlets for record-high margins

By  |  August 31, 2017

The nation’s consumer cop has blasted “unjustified” profit-grabbing at the pump, estimating the city’s drivers paid about US$150 million too much in the past year.

A new Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report reveals average gross retail margins for ­unleaded fuel in Melbourne reached AU$0.135 (US$0.11) per liter between April and June.

“While motorists are enjoying the cheapest petrol since 2002, we believe prices should have been even lower, given the continuing high gross retail margins,” Mr Sims, the ACCC chairman, said on August 30.

“The increase in gross margins since 2014-15 may partly ­reflect regulatory and compliance costs, especially in NSW. However, the ACCC believes that these increasing costs do not fully explain the sharp increase in margins.”

That’s the highest, in ­inflation-adjusted terms, since monitoring began in 2002.

Full Content: The Australian

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