What will fuel prices do over Christmas?

Don’t go rushing to the petrol station in the lead-up to Christmas.

That’s the general message out of petrol price statistics released by two separate firms this week.

On the one hand,

According to comparethemarket.com.au, prices will ease before Christmas in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, with Canberra set to prove an exception with inflated prices throughout the holiday period.

The fuel comparison website says Sydney motorists paid an average of 132.4 cents per litre over the past quarter, the least of the major capitals. Melbourne motorists paid 133.9cpl, Brisbane 134.8cpl, Adelaide, 132.6cpl, Perth 132.5cpl and Canberra 137.6cpl.

Spokeswoman Abigail Koch expects peak prices to plateau over the Christmas period.

“Even with petrol prices on their way down, the average price of petrol is still sitting at 134.2cpl over the last quarter – the highest of any quarter this year, and 11.5cpl higher than the last quarter (24 June to 24 September). I would strongly advise motorists to keep checking prices before filling up this Christmas,” she said.

“Prices in the major cities, excluding Canberra, run in cycles that are variable depending on the city. Sydney and Brisbane cycles peaked one week ago, while Melbourne prices only peaked at the end of last week and are on the way back down. As prices in these cities are not expected to peak again until around New Year’s Eve, my suggestion is to hold off filling up the tank in full until as close to Christmas as possible.”

The Commsec analysis adopted a longer term view. It says petrol prices recently surpassed levels last seen in November, 2014.

Higher gasoline prices in Singapore contributed to the hike, according to analysts, lifting 1.4 per cent to 98.05 a barrel.

With the national average recently dipping in the past week, question marks linger over the amount retailers are pocketing when we fuel up.

The Federal Government is clearly thinking along the same lines. Today, it directed the competition watchdog to undertake a full investigation into all parts of the fuel chain.

According to a government release, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been given new powers to monitor prices, costs and profits “relating to the supply of petroleum products and related services in Australia for the next two years”.

“Australian motorists become acutely aware of the variabilities of petrol prices heading into the Christmas holiday period. They need to be assured that petrol companies are playing fair and not hiking prices simply because it is the holidays,” a press release said.

Under the scheme, the ACCC will compulsorily obtain information from sources that have previously dodged the microscope, including independent terminal operators.