Petrol prices have dropped an average of 10.3 cents per litre (cpl) across Australia’s largest cities for the first time in nearly two years between June and September.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported the decline in its latest quarterly petrol monitoring report, and said the drop reflects a 34 per cent fall in international petrol prices.
Mick Keogh, Deputy Chair at the ACCC, said while international factors drove up prices steeply early this year, they contributed to price drops in the September quarter.
In Sydney the average price dropped by 11.6cpl to 178.2, in Melbourne it declined by 4.5 cpl to 184.8, and in Brisbane it fell 11 cpl to 179.8.
On 29 September, the fuel excise was restored after being halved for six months from 30 March 2022. Since the restoration of the excise, prices have increased by less than the expected 25.3cpl.
“We have looked at the impact of the excise being restored, and, allowing for movements in international prices and the price cycles in the major cities, we found only a small number of unexpected increases in average retail petrol prices,” said Keogh.
In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide daily average petrol prices increased by between 15.9 cpl and 21.9 cpl between 28 September and 9 November.
Across the smaller cities, average retail petrol prices also decreased, although generally remained higher than in the five larger capitals, with Hobart dropping by 10.5 cpl, Darwin by 3.4 cpl, and Canberra by 1.3 cpl.
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