Petrol retailers caught under-pouring at the bowser

The federal government’s petrol authority has reported an uptick in fuel retailers duping customers through ‘under-pouring’ at the petrol bowser.

In its latest annual audit, the National Measurement Institute (NMI) said seven per cent of fuel pumps tested nationally were inaccurate, most of those for supplying consumers with less fuel than what was being indicated.

The authority’s acting chief executive Bill Loizides described the trend as “worrying”.

“The proportion of fuel pumps found to be inaccurate to consumer disadvantage doubled over a two-year period, from 2.4 per cent of inspected pumps in 2015-16, to 4.8 per cent in 2017-18," he said.

"While we accept that the great majority of fuel retailers are doing the right thing, the one in 20 pumps found during the audit to be under-pouring is an unacceptable level of non-compliance, especially when we provided plenty of warning that our inspectors would be on the lookout.”

As part of the audit, NMI trade measurement inspectors visited 328 retail fuel sites across Australia and tested 1340 fuel pumps during the April audit.

Of those tested, seven per cent (or 97 fuel pumps) were found to be inaccurate outside the 0.3 per cent maximum permissible error (MPE) allowed under Australia’s trade measurement laws.

This included 65 pumps, or almost one in 20 of those tested, that were delivering less than indicated on the display.

Offenders were fined $15,750 as a consequence, and a further three companies were fined $6300 due to “severe and repeat” gouging.

Four were referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.