>The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced yesterday that motorists would get at least 15 hours notice to buy petrol before prices increased under a government fuel monitoring scheme.
Some points of note from the announcement were:
- The ACCC will operate the scheme, which is expected to start by the end of the year and will give consumers information about the next day’s petrol prices via text messages, email or website.
- Consumers will know when the price is going to increase or decrease and they can therefore defer their buying until they (fuel prices) get to their lowest points.”
- Every petrol station that was part of the scheme would be required to lodge with the ACCC their proposed fuel price for the following day. The ACCC would then publish those prices within one hour of the information being lodged. The price would apply from 6am the following day for 24 hours.
- “More importantly through SMS services, through email and through our website, you will be able to tell which service station that is reasonably close to you will be selling petrol at the lowest prices.” said ACCC chairman Mr Samuels
- Mr Samuels warned the system was not designed to save consumers money but to give them more power. “You will know if a price increase is going to occur and you’ve got about 15 hours to buy your petrol before it hits.”
I almost laughed at the article. Firstly the chairman, Graeme Samuels said that the system “was not designed to save money but to give them [consumers] power”. Give me a break. 15 hrs notice will suddenly give us power – we already know that on certain days fuel is cheaper. See my post on that topic here.
I am sure the refiners and the petrol station owners (who can choose to participate in the scheme voluntarily) will figure out ways to work around this weak system. The telco’s will also be happy with the extra income from all the SMS messages! I just see this system resulting in long lines at the pump on the supposedly “cheap” fuel days.
When will the government begin to tackle the fuel price rises more seriously, like reducing the excise tax on fuel, encouraging hybrid cars, better public transportation and looking for long term ways to reduce our dependency of fuel. Schemes like the ones above are just political stunts designed to waste tax payers money.
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