Category Archives: Fuels

Overcharging for petrol

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ACCC petrol commissioner Pat Walker last week revealed Coles Express service stations are the most expensive.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s survey, Coles Express had the highest petrol prices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Mr Walker said the commission had identified about 30 Coles Express sites in Sydney that were selling petrol for 155.9 cents a litre, when the average price was 143.3 cents a litre. According to News.com.au, Coles was selling petrol in Melbourne for up to 14 cents more than the city’s average.

Mr Walker advised motorists to shop around for the best price, as those who use shopper dockets may not be getting the discount they think they are.

“It is important that consumers do not automatically rely on their petrol discount voucher to necessarily deliver the lowest price,” he said.

NRMA President Alan Evans said, “The Petrol Commissioner has done well to catch and shame Coles for their over-pricing; he now needs the powers to do something about it.”

Mr Evans said that bad press alone is not enough, as oil companies have grown immune to it. He believes the Commissioner’s powers must therefore be extended so he can:

  • • Force oil companies to drop their prices when they are over-inflated;
  • • Force oil companies to artificially keep their prices down to compensate motorists who have been over-charged;
  • • Fine oil companies.

Have you noticed some service stations regularly being more expensive than others?

The diesel price rise

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As recently as six months ago, one of the main incentives for buying a diesel vehicle was the perceived savings on fuel compared to a vehicle using unleaded petrol. But now it’s not uncommon to see the price of diesel up to 25 cents more than regular unleaded, leaving many owners of private diesel vehicles wondering if it was all worth it.

Several factors have contributed to the diesel price rise.

The main reason for diesel being consistently more expensive than standard unleaded petrol is that most diesel is sold under contract to fleet operators, mainly for heavy vehicles. This means the volume sold at your local service station is low, leaving retailers little incentive to discount.

Also previous Government regulations allowed diesel to contain 500 particles per million of sulphur. This has recently been adjusted to allow only 50ppm resulting in the production costs of diesel and unleaded petrol being quite similar.

Diesel prices are also kept high by demand in Asia, where most transport uses diesel.

Many Australians holidaying in New Zealand come back wondering why diesel is significantly cheaper there than it is here. However, Trans-Tasman diesel prices cannot be compared, as diesel in NZ is not taxed at the point of sale. Rather, diesel vehicle owners are required to pay a Road User Charge (RUC) in distance travelled slots, making the actual cost of the journey much more expensive than it appears at the bowser.

Manufacturers and the Government may be pushing diesel as a ‘green’ alternative to petrol, but owners and potential buyers are probably questioning if diesel is indeed a fuel of the future.

What are your experiences with buying diesel? Do you still find it worth the money, despite the recent price rises?

Ethanol in petrol

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Over the past four years ethanol has been making its way to our fuel distributors, being sold as E10. It is a colourless alcohol, the same as in alcoholic drinks and is manufactured from grain or sugar. The CSIRO has calculated that an E10 blend cuts overall greenhouse emissions by around 3 per cent. However it’s more costly than petrol to produce and requires special storage facilities. Testing shows that fuel consumption increases by 3-4 per cent when using an E10 blend.

10 per cent ethanol mixed with petrol should not affect the majority of vehicles on our roads. The motor industry’s website advises which cars can use E10, E5 or no ethanol at all. All vehicles manufactured before 1986 are recommended not to use ethanol.

Ethanol is currently rebated at the normal fuel excise, but the rebate will be phased out over 5 years from 2011*, by which time the industry is expected to have reduced the costs of production.

*please note: straight unleaded 91 octane petrol will now be phased out in NSW by 1 July 2012.  Vehicles not able to use ethanol will then use premium 95 octane petrol.

What’s your experience with E10? Is your car cheaper to run overall and has E10 had any effect – good or not so good – on your car’s performance or reliability?

LPG vs. Petrol

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So you’ve done all your calculations and decided to convert your car to LPG like over 700,000 other Australians. It sounds good in theory and the government rebate of $2000 is a great help. The fuel figures show your savings in dollars will have your conversion paid off within a year or two depending on your vehicle and the mileage done. But have you got all the facts?

Environmental impact

The environment is another winner in the change you have made by lowering greenhouse emissions. The Australian Greenhouse Office website states that the mass of CO2 gas released of the exhaust pipe by the burning of one litre of fuel is:

  • 2.3 kg for Petrol
  • 1.5 kg for LPG.

LPG = Less kilometres per litre

You can expect a 20-30 per cent increase in gas consumption over petrol per kilometre because the lower energy content of gas requires more to be burned in the engine compared with petrol.

Excise

There is no government excise until July 2011. But then the price of LPG will gradually rise over 5 years.

The excise will increase as follows:

  • 1 July 2011 initial excise of 2.5 cents per litre
  • 1 July 2012 excise increases to 5.0 cents per litre
  • 1 July 2013 excise increases to 7.5 cents per litre
  • 1 July 2014 excise increases to 10.0 cents per litre
  • 1 July 2015 excise increases to 12.5 cents per litre

In knowing all this, is or was a change to LPG worth it?

Do all the figures add up and, despite the cost savings, has your vehicle’s power and torque suffered? Is it less efficient when towing or carrying heavy loads, especially on long trips and going up hills?

The benefits of car pooling

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It may sound like a thing of the past, but car pooling is a great way of saving money, meeting neighbours and colleagues, and helping the environment.

Our energy consumption

Transport accounts for 41 per cent of Australia’s energy consumption and is responsible for 14 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Within this, cars and light vehicles account for 79 per cent of transport fuel consumption and are responsible for 80 per cent of the segment’s GHG emissions.

Transport energy demand is forecast to grow at about 2.3 per cent p.a., implying an increase in demand of 50 per cent to 2020 (ABARE 2001).

Road transport is currently serviced by petroleum-based fuels. Passenger vehicles account for 65 per cent of the energy demand in this segment (35 per cent freight). Road freight, which is fuelled mainly by diesel, is forecast to grow the fastest at 2.9 per cent p.a. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles accounts for 20 per cent of energy demand. There is currently limited activity with compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen and ethanol.

The price of ever-increasing fuel, tolls and the need for an extra vehicle makes trying to stretch your budget seem impossible.

Why not share?

Bearing all of this in mind, have you ever thought about car pooling?

It is a cost effective way of getting to work and a great way of minimising your impact on the environment.

Other benefits of car pooling:

  • T2 lanes will be available to you
  • Meeting colleagues and neighbours you otherwise might not have
  • Your trip to and from work will be broken up by giving you someone to talk to
  • The safety factor if you work late at night

There are car pooling services on the internet such as TheCarPool.com.au which will help you search for car pooling partners in your areas, help you calculate your savings and teach you about car pooling etiquette.

There are, of course, risks involved. The person you are car pooling with may have to leave earlier than usual or work back some days, leaving you to make alternative arrangements at the last-minute, you might have a falling out with one of your ever-late workmates, or maybe you’ll get trapped in a car with someone you discovered you didn’t really get along with. But car pooling has the potential to make commuting to and from work fun.

To be effective your company needs to support the idea, but you may be surprised – there are many ways they could help out. They’ll also find there are a few extra parking spaces.

Tell us about you car pooling experiences.