Diesel Price

[drbass]

Hi all,

Anyone noticed the rather steep increase in diesel price in the last couple of days? Haven't seen anything under $A1.50, and the highest was $A1.609!!

This is in the "wider" Greensborough area. What's the pricing like in other areas?

Seeya,
Michael

[Spoddy]

$1.57 seems to be the average around the South Coast of Sydney and in the Blue Mountains.

I reckon because there is more focus on the price of petrol thay are raising diesel prices instead.

[tezza]

I use this link to find the best price around, works a treat and save me money as well


http://motormouth.com.au/default_nf.aspx

[balkanac]

its about $1.50 in Perth, but some places have it higher

[ang3lsholocaust]

Its around the $1.55 up here in Brisbane

[Spoddy]

$1.62 in the Blue Mountains for BP, 2c cheaper for other brands.

[neil]

1.57 bp Normanhurst. Just off freeway.
5 cents cheaper compared to the bp owned one at thornleigh down the road.
Normanhurst is private owned from the look of building.
This one has always been 2-5 cents cheaper,even compared to the other
brands along pennants hill rd.
Heaps of trucks use it so a good turnover of diesel.

Usual problem of waiting for that one petrol GTI guzzler who parks at the
only diesel bowser while all the other pumps are empty.
Neil.

[OvaltoJetta]

In WA there is a fuelwatch web site at www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au (check it out). The guy who set it up is the same guy that has been appointed by the new federal govt to look into the national fuel pricing. He is thinking about implementing the WA model nationally.
Basically each fuel outlet has to submit their fuel prices for the next day. They apply from 6am to 6am the next morning and it is illegal in WA to change the prices during the day and they can cop big fines. You can then look at the website and head for the cheapest one. They say that it has kept the price down in WA on average about 2c-3c a litre.
Last October I emailed them to enquire about diesel prices in Australia being higher than unleaded vis overseas and the reply basically pointed to the hight Govt taxes, so I suggets you annoy your local federal sitting member of parliament irrespective of your political persuasion. I have repeated the email reply I received. It's interesting.

***********************************

Thank you for your email regarding diesel prices and please accept our apologies for the delay in replying to you.

It is important to remember, that like other retailers, fuel retailers are free to set their prices at the level they choose. The price they set is dependent upon a number of factors, the main factors being the competitiveness of the fuel market in the area, the volume of sales at sites, the wholesale price and the ability for service stations to generate profit from non-fuel sales.

While they are free to set their prices, FuelWatch does monitor the benchmark prices of fuel to ensure that decreases in the Singaporean benchmarks are passed on to local retail prices. Benchmark prices can be viewed at http://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/news/dsp_fuelfacts.cfm Prices for unleaded petrol (ULP) and diesel are based on separate benchmarks, which respond to different factors of supply and demand.

The diesel benchmark was generally lower than the ULP benchmark from March to July 2007; however since mid-July 2007 it has steadily increased, and is now significantly higher than the benchmark price for ULP. The benchmark price of diesel in $US is actually at its highest ever level. The strength of the Australian dollar against the US dollar is preventing the full impact of these high prices being reflected in local retail prices.

You are correct in stating there is not a price cycle for diesel. Price cycles are marketing strategies used by oil companies to attract a greater portion of market share. Price cycles occur in the major cities of Australia where there are many retailers competing on price to a large buyer market. The retail fuel market for diesel in Australia is very small, meaning retailers have less incentive to compete on diesel prices. According to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics publication "Survey of Motor Vehicle Use", in 12 months passenger vehicles consumed over 15 billion litres of ULP, but used only 1 billion litres of diesel. Remember, this is referring to the retail market, not to industry users, who will for the main part have contracts.

The diesel retail price in Australia is actually among the lowest in the OECD countries. The Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) publishes overseas prices for diesel on its website at http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/diesel.htm (the latest figures are from December 2006). Internationally, the most likely causes of diesel prices being lower than ULP prices are different levels of taxation, and the greater use of diesel vehicles overseas. In many countries, the tax on diesel is significantly lower than on petrol; however often other forms of taxation, such a road user charge, are applicable while this is not the case in Australia.

We hope this information has been helpful to you.

Kind regards,
FuelWatch

*****************
Hope this helps? ....not unless the price comes down

[tezza]

Good to here on todays news the Federal Govt may introduce Fuelwatch Australia wide. I sure hope so as it will keep those unscrupulous Oil companies from moving the prices up and down on a hourly basis.

[drbass]

Hi all,

Thanks for your contribution. Just drove past a Shell (Yallambie) which went up to 163.5 - highest I've seen.

We're still lucky though. Was in Germany for a couple of days (literally!!) this week, and they're looking at about 1.40 Euro/liter which is just about $A 2.40.

Having said that, this recent steep increase for diesel does not seem to be justifiable compare to the development of petrol - just my $A 0.02!

Seeya,
Michael