Perth servos making twice as much profit as they were pre-war with fuel excise cuts yet to be fully passed on

Perth service station owners are rorting the taxpayer-funded fuel excise cuts to rake in nearly double the profits they saw before the Iran war. Servos across the metropolitan area banked an average margin of 20.55¢ for each litre of unleaded petrol sold since the Federal Government’s 26¢-a-litre fuel excise discount came into effect on April 1 — a discount which the ACCC said was supposed to be passed on to motorists in full “as quickly as possible”. The 20.55¢ figure compares to an average margin of 10.65¢ in the month leading up to the war, meaning a Perth car owner with a standard 65-litre fuel tank is paying at least $6 more than they should each time they fill up at the bowser. A spokeswoman for Consumer Protection Minister Tony Buti conceded the average unleaded petrol retail margin was “slightly higher than before the conflict” but said it was “trending down”. “Today it was 15.9¢ a litre, with expectations it will continue to fall as stations deplete current stocks,” she said. “Both Federal and State Governments expect the full excise to be passed on to motorists. The State Government is working closely with the ACCC to monitor the margins between the wholesale and retail price for both unleaded and diesel fuel. “Consumers are encouraged to use the free FuelWatch service to find the cheapest fuel in their area and in their travels.” An average litre of unleaded petrol in Perth was about $2.21 on Friday, compared to almost $2.52 a litre the day before the fuel excise cut came into effect. But the excise cut has done little to shield diesel vehicle owners from pain at the bowser. The heavy-duty fuel overtook its pre-excise price of $3.22 a litre on Thursday. Admitting the promised price relief had evaporated, Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Thursday blamed the decisions of US President Donald Trump which “Australians are around their kitchen tables working out how to pay for”. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday struck a deal with his Singaporean counterpart to protect their countries’ mutual energy security and to support the flow of oil and gas between the two. “The conflict in the Middle East is a long way from our region, but every nation in our region is being affected by it,” Mr Albanese said. “By building regional cooperation on energy security and economic resilience, we strengthen our own fuel security and our own economy.” But the agreement between the two countries will hold little value if throughput via the Strait of Hormuz continues at its current rate. Maritime traffic through the key oil and fertiliser export waterway is at a small fraction of its pre-war level amid a topsy-turvy ceasefire agreement between the United States-Israel and Iran. Australia gets the vast majority of its refined petrol, diesel and jet fuel from Asian refineries — mainly in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and India. These countries in turn get most of their fuel inputs from the Persian Gulf region via the Strait of Hormuz.