Drivers in NSW urged to report petrol stations for suspected price gouging
Motorists are being urged not to do business at petrol stations they suspect are profiting from the fuel crisis and not passing on tax cuts to the bowser.
NSW Fair Trading said it had issued 24 fines in the past seven days based on intelligence for discrepancies between bowser prices and prices listed on FuelCheck, as well as suspected price abuse.
The conflict in Iran has caused gasoline and diesel prices to rise; but the federal government halved the fuel tax in response to the crisis, which would reduce prices by 26.3 cents per liter. Another cut of 5.7 billion liters follows unexpected GST deals.
The state government said it would “put the shoes on the ground” to “ensure fuel retailers do the right thing and drivers are not misled when filling up”.
It follows an onslaught on fuel price transparency, with nearly three in four petrol stations in NSW inspected in April and 93 infringement notices issued.
Gas stations that violate the rules face immediate fines of $1,100 or court fines of up to $22,000 for individuals and $110,000 for companies.
Meanwhile, the NSW Fuel Check service has experienced a huge increase since conflict in the Middle East disrupted global fuel supplies.
Traffic on the website and app increased from just 8,000 to 10,000 per day in January; It jumped from more than 20,000 visits per hour last month to half a million visits per day in late March.
“Over the past two weeks, millions of NSW motorists have turned to FuelCheck to find the best fuel price and navigate fuel supply gaps,” said Better Regulation and Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong.
“These are uncertain times, but we want the people of New South Wales to have the utmost confidence in the real-time price transparency data provided by FuelCheck.”
