The prominent Coles outlet, on the busy Sturt Highway near several competing service stations, dropped its price by 20 to 30 cents per litre overnight.

The price shot back up to 150.9 cents just after 4pm on Friday, sending the price yoyo-ing through a range of nearly 29 cents in less than 24 hours. 

Coles’ billboards were advertising Unleaded 91 RON at 130.9 cents per litre, which was 21 cents cheaper than E10 ethanol blend being sold by a competing station a few hundred metres down the highway.

According to the NSW government's FuelCheck website, Wagga’s unleaded prices on Friday ranged from 150.9 cents at Ashmont’s Metro outlet to 159.9 cents at Caltex.

The average NSW price for Unleaded 91 RON was 158.2 cents on Friday.

Wagga’s Jordon Dean brought his friend’s Ford Fiesta to fill up at Coles Express just after 3.15pm on Friday after hearing about the prices on Facebook.

“I saw a picture of the prices and tagged all my mates,” he said.

“I’ve got a VS Commodore and I go through about 60 litres per week.

“I filled up on Thursday and paid $80. If I did it today I would have paid about $50. You just know the price is doing to go way back up in the next 72 hours.

“It’s just depressing.”

Mr Dean said he “absolutely” believed that Coles had dropped the price deliberately for the first day of the national fuel strike.

“Just look at the normal price for diesel: $1.72. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

For most of Friday, the first day of a planned two-day boycott of all petrol stations, Coles’ price remained at least 21 to 27 cents per litre lower than other major chain and independent fuel retailers in Wagga.

Wagga’s Coles was 30 cents cheaper than the supermarket giant’s own Express outlet in Albury. 

A Coles spokesperson did not directly address claims made on Facebook groups like ‘Fuel Watch Australia’ that the company had deliberately dropped its price for the national fuel strike.

“Coles Express always seeks to provide a competitive fuel offering to our customers, as well as great value on a range of everyday household needs at supermarket prices,” the spokesperson said.

Swift Service Centre owner Paul Seaman said the Coles’ price drop could be related to the fuel strike.

However, the Wagga independent fuel retailer believed that the strike would not make much difference to multinational companies who were used to having activists attack their reputations.

“These are massive companies, they won’t even give a rat’s about what a few people do on Facebook,” he said.

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