Figures from motoring group NRMA show that unleaded fuel at some Wagga service stations is being sold at prices not seen since October 2019.

The FuelPrice Australia website shows a wide range of prices for unleaded across Wagga's service stations, starting at a low of 131.7c and reaching a peak of 151.9c a litre.

NRMA spokesman John Macgowan said prices were being driven up by the global market, so motorists were not going to see a plunge in prices similar to last year despite border closures and lockdowns.

"We have seen for the past few weeks pretty steady increases of one to two cents per week," he said.

"The issue right now is that global petrol prices are just skyrocketing and in NSW our regional price settings are mainly affected by the [wholesale prices by the tanker load] of unleaded fuel.

"Right now the price is the highest since COVID hit in early 2020.

"While we expect the Sydney price to start trending down in the next couple of weeks, there is really no end in sight for the regions while the global price stays up."

Ingrams Automotive repair owner Chris Ingram said Wagga customers really started to notice the impact on prices on their budgets when they approached such levels. "Sometimes it does put the squeeze on them, they say they're running out of money as they've got to fill up the family car," he said.

The Australian Institute of Petroleum's figures showed petrol price increases in Wagga every week since the end of November, when the average unleaded price was 116 cents.

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Mr Ingram said most drivers in Wagga didn't have much ability to cut back on vehicle use when prices started rising.

"We're stuck with what we're stuck with," he said.

Swift Wagga independent service station operator Paul Seaman agreed with the NRMA in that the retail petrol prices were being pushed up by wholesale price increases.

"There is a 20-cent difference in price across Wagga because the company owned sites, such as Caltex and Ampol, can charge whatever they like as they have cards for corporate and government customers," he said.

"In between you have the smaller operators who are just trying to make a few cents per litre and then there are others who are selling below cost."

Mr Macgowan said southern regions were likely to see better prices than the north coast but they would still keep rising.

"We are encouraging motorists to keep checking fuel price apps and the NRMA app, particularly in Wagga where you do have 29 fuel retailers and a variance of 22 cents between the cheapest and most expensive," he said.

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