Helping regional motorists find the best deal at the bowser

Regional motorists in Hammond will be able to access real time fuel prices after the Marshall Liberal Government today announced it will deliver real time petrol pricing to South Australian motorists following the findings of an extensive review undertaken by the South Australian Productivity Commission.

The Commission’s review found that while petrol price cycles still existed in those jurisdictions that did have fuel price monitoring, the presence of real time pricing data helped consumers find low cost fuel.

“This will have significant impacts on regional consumers who have for too long been charged exorbitant prices for petrol because of the lack of a competitive market,” Adrian Pederick MP said.

“Now, regional consumers will have access to real time data that will enable them to shop around, instead of being stuck paying higher prices compared to motorists in our city areas.”

The Productivity Commission found that both options in place around Australia – either the Western Australian model where prices are frozen for 24 hours, or that in other jurisdictions where outlets must report any pricing changes – can assist motorists, but that the WA model may result in greater compliance costs for fuel retailers.

“After considering this report, the Marshall Liberal Government has decided to trial a real time option, which would require petrol stations to report any price changes to a centralised database.

 “While this may not reduce the overall cost of petrol, it will help motorists make informed choices and find the cheapest prices by shopping around,”

Adrian Pederick MP said the trial would run for two years.

“The Government is now working on enabling legislation, before going out to tender to find a data aggregator. The data will be made available for free to private app developers, which is what Queensland have successfully implemented.”