16 July 2008

ACT Petrol price Rip-off

| Pesty
Join the conversation
26

I know it’s the same old winge, but how comes the petrol at Exeter services and beyond is 11 Cents per Litre cheaper than here today? (Gungahlin prices).

It seems to me they can charge what the hell they like! & who shall bid them nay!

Whinge over.

Join the conversation

26
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy11:55 am 18 Jul 08

… that should be ‘good’ for the economy, not ‘food’ for the economy…

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy11:54 am 18 Jul 08

Jakez – my belief that reduced spending on luxury good is food for the economy is based more around human psychology than immediate economic effect. The more people are surrounded by luxury goods and services, the more they want. And most people find excuses to purchase such services, even on credit. And increased use of personal credit leads to inflationary pressures. Note how most people under the age of 25 seem to live these days – I am only in my early thirties but notice this age group spending $$ (often borrowed) on things I wouldn’t have considered at that age, because I didn’t think it was a wise use of what little I had.

That being said, inflation is not THAT high at the moment. It has certainly been higher in Australia before. But given the levels of debt, even small interest rate rises now have an effect on people and businesses. Still, we have just gone through 10 years of extreme prosperity, I guess we have to pay the piper sometime…

tylersmayhem said :

“Besides, high petrol prices mean people are spending less on luxury type goods and services, which I think is good for the wider economy”.

“On what basis have you come to this belief”?

Jakez: to try to answer your question – inflation! The more money people spend buying “luxury” items, the higher inflation climbs. As we’re all quickly learning, high inflation = high interest rates. High inflation is not good for any economy, therefore interest rates are raised to discourage over expenditure by consumers and reduce the inflation.

I’m not a finance pro by any means, but this is the high level explanation that has been given to me on more than one occasion.

If I tried to answer the question it would not be the basis upon which somebody else came to that belief. See sometimes a question is actually a question.

Here is a question for you. How does spending money on luxury items increase inflation?

How does spending less money on luxury items and more money on petrol not have the same inflationary impact?

tylersmayhem4:13 pm 17 Jul 08

Completely, Pesty!

My original post was about the big difference in cost between here and from Exeter down towards Sydney! What we need.and must ultimately get is a non oil based fuel system for our “cars”. oil WILL run out, we need to conserve stocks for the thousands of other uses it has besides pumping into out fuel tanks in whatever form. it’s common sense.

tylersmayhem3:47 pm 17 Jul 08

“Besides, high petrol prices mean people are spending less on luxury type goods and services, which I think is good for the wider economy”.

“On what basis have you come to this belief”?

Jakez: to try to answer your question – inflation! The more money people spend buying “luxury” items, the higher inflation climbs. As we’re all quickly learning, high inflation = high interest rates. High inflation is not good for any economy, therefore interest rates are raised to discourage over expenditure by consumers and reduce the inflation.

I’m not a finance pro by any means, but this is the high level explanation that has been given to me on more than one occasion.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy2:10 pm 17 Jul 08

FWIW, I’d buy a diesel long before I considered a hybrid. Vehicles like the Hyundai i30 are not only amazingly economical for their size, but actually drive surprisingly well.

In Canberra, I’d suggest the benefits of hybrid technology would be minimal, given that we don’t spend that much time crawling along at less than 20km/h in normal driving.

p1 said :

It does piss me off though, that people are happy to pay $20 to go to a movie, and then cry poor when they have to pay an extra $3 for petrol after the price goes up 20c a litre.

100% agree. That and I wonder when people harp on about saving 10cents a litre, when it has increased five times that in the last year or so. If you get a couple of 44 gallon drums in your shed, and buy fuel new, you will be saving well over 10cents/L by the time you use it….

but they frown on you bringing 44 gallon drums to the petrol station…..

Totally agree p1, et al about the fuel price whingers. We are paying market price in a market economy. The government is hurting themselves and us if they decide to cut the excise – as they will have to get the revenue from other means, and lower prices will reduce the disincentive to drive everywhere. Instead of reducing the price of fuel, they should be increasing it with the carbon tax, and keeping the excise.

It does piss me off though, that people are happy to pay $20 to go to a movie, and then cry poor when they have to pay an extra $3 for petrol after the price goes up 20c a litre.

100% agree. That and I wonder when people harp on about saving 10cents a litre, when it has increased five times that in the last year or so. If you get a couple of 44 gallon drums in your shed, and buy fuel new, you will be saving well over 10cents/L by the time you use it….

NRMA comparisions were a bit misleading in that they didn’t factor in that all but one of the vehicles needed premium fuel to get their efficiancy savings compared to diesel. Cutting fuel excise will only reduce money govn. has to spend on schools, hospitals etc. The bowser price will stay the same (just more profit for oil companies). Qld doesn’t include the GST component in fuel sales (they forgo that part of the GST return to the states from the Feds). And the difference in the cost of diesel over petrol can be explained by market research carried out by the fuel companies (vehicle type sales in particular areas/average incomes) therefore if there is a spike in diesel vehicle sales in a higher income area the difference in price increases. In areas of low diesel vehicle ownership the difference is much lower, transportation costs however remain the same. ps talking cars here.

mdme workalot1:01 pm 17 Jul 08

I agree that we should be encouraging people to use alternative forms of transport, but what about those of us who have no other choice but to drive? It’s too expensive to live in an area where public transport or walking is an option, so I have to drive. Even if petrol goes up above $2 a litre, it will still be cheaper for me to live out of town.

It does piss me off though, that people are happy to pay $20 to go to a movie, and then cry poor when they have to pay an extra $3 for petrol after the price goes up 20c a litre.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

.

Besides, high petrol prices mean people are spending less on luxury type goods and services, which I think is good for the wider economy.

On what basis have you come to this belief?

Yup, and if the carbon trading scheme were to include vehicle fuel, then peoples requirement of food, compared to their (often not required) preference for motor transport, means that diesel likely will come down in price relative to ULP.

Growling Ferret said :

Why would you want a Hybrid when turbo diesel technology means you can use less fuel that way instead?

You want a fuel efficient vehicle – Hyundai i30 TD, VW Golf TDi both get under 5l per 100kmh on the highway.

The work Prius barely gets 9l 100/kmh round town – where my 2007 Falcon XR6 with 6 speed auto averages 10.0 around town and less on the highway…

check out the new open road report from NRMA – diesel lost to petrol efficiencies in the study that they did. read it last night.

Growling Ferret12:35 pm 17 Jul 08

Why would you want a Hybrid when turbo diesel technology means you can use less fuel that way instead?

You want a fuel efficient vehicle – Hyundai i30 TD, VW Golf TDi both get under 5l per 100kmh on the highway.

The work Prius barely gets 9l 100/kmh round town – where my 2007 Falcon XR6 with 6 speed auto averages 10.0 around town and less on the highway…

I think that anything the Gov’t (at whatever level) can do to encourage more fuel efficient cars and/or new technology is great, and should be continued. That said, while I am not against the cutting of fuel excise, I really don’t think that expensive fuel is so bad, because it should reduce usage, which is good for everyone.

I think that any carbon trading scheme should fully include vehicle fuel, because we will soon find out what people are more willing to spend money, carbon emissions to drive their cars, or carbon emissions to power their plasma screen.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy12:28 pm 17 Jul 08

Petrol prices aren’t that bad compared to some other places in the world. Compared to the costs of depreciation for new vehicles, as well as maintenance, tyres, rego and insurance, I don’t think petrol is that big a deal.

It’s all about the psychology. Prices go up in fits and spurts (housing does this too, you know), and people moan about ‘how much it has risen in x time period’, without giving a thought to the fact that they have already enjoyed times when it is cheap.

Besides, high petrol prices mean people are spending less on luxury type goods and services, which I think is good for the wider economy.

if we can get prices reduced by the govt, perhaps by abolishing the fuel excise, or the local government rebating us somehow to cover the cost, we would go down by at least 10c a litre. works in qld. fuel is still 10c cheaper than in sydney (which is still cheaper than us).

I personally think that the Government (local and or federal) should give us a rebate if we buy a hybrid engine car – perhaps cut the cost of the cars so that more can afford it, or work out a way to upgrade the existing cars to be hybrid enabled.

It seems to me they can charge what the hell they like! & who shall bid them nay!

Have you considered opening a petrol station and then selling the fuel for no profit? For that matter how come the Salvos haven’t opened a petrol station, as a non-profit religious based org, they could get a great tax deal, and could sell petrol at a much cheaper price as a way of helping needy families….

Sometimes it’s worth is to support a good business?

abc said :

Ooooooh……11 cents a litre cheaper at Exeter… I’ll drive up the highway from now on and buy my petrol… thanks for the tip.

Don’t laugh, but there are people in the Highlands who will drive out to Sutton Forest (The servo you mention is in Sutton Forest, not exeter) because it is always a few cents cheaper, not considering the petrol wasted by driving that way.

Felix the Cat7:53 pm 16 Jul 08

bigfeet said :

Wow, 11 cents a litre…so with my 50 litre tank that I fill once every fortnight, I will make a saving of a whole $143 for the year.

FFS I spend more than that on a single night out, or two weeks worth of coffees.

People are hysterical over nothing when it comes to petrol prices.

Exactly!

They can charge anything they like. Its suppose to be a free market economy so they can charge $10 litre if they want.

Wow, 11 cents a litre…so with my 50 litre tank that I fill once every fortnight, I will make a saving of a whole $143 for the year.

FFS I spend more than that on a single night out, or two weeks worth of coffees.

People are hysterical over nothing when it comes to petrol prices.

Ooooooh……11 cents a litre cheaper at Exeter… I’ll drive up the highway from now on and buy my petrol… thanks for the tip.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.