MEMBER for Indi Cathy McGowan has gone in to bat for regional motorists she says have been paying much more at the petrol pump than their metropolitan counterparts.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms McGowan has called on the Abbott government to investigate the petrol pricing behaviour of fuel outlets across Indi and is encouraging motorists to report unfair pricing to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
“There has been considerable community concern regarding the recent high cost of petrol and the fact the price hasn’t decreased as motorists would expect,” she said.
“In some areas there appears to be a disparity between regional and metropolitan prices and the public deserves to find out the justification for this.”
Ms McGowan will write to the ACCC to ask for a “deep dive” investigation to focus on outlets in Indi, for example Mansfield, where the price has remained high.
“I will ask the ACCC for a detailed investigation into petrol pricing in the North East and an explanation why the petrol price has remained high in many centres after the oil price has dropped considerably,” she said.
Border residents have had some relief in the fortnight since the new APCO IGA service station opened in West Wodonga.
The independent service centre has been selling unleaded petrol for 124.9 cents a litre all week and yesterday dropped to 123.3 cents a litre, while E10 is 119.3 cents a litre.
APCO Wodonga manager Darryl Dawson said business was thriving.
“Residents are happy to support us, it just hasn’t stopped,” he said.
Mr Dawson drove around other outlets in Wodonga yesterday and said his prices remained the cheapest.
“The barrel price has come down and we want to pass the savings onto our customers,” he said.
Albury APCO on Mate Street has the same prices as the Wodonga outlet and it is the first time E10 has dropped below 120 cents in at least three years.
Terry Walker, from Walker Transport, told The Border Mail last week he noticed the wholesale price of unleaded petrol had fallen during the past four weeks, but pump prices remained constant.
“It’s really frustrating when you know it should have been coming down and it wasn’t,” he said.
“It has come back in line now, on the Border anyway.”
While Mr Walker praised Ms McGowan for her commitment, he said it should have happened six weeks ago.
