Wagga motorists angry as local petrol stations raise fuel prices ahead of government excise cut

Drivers flooded the city's service stations for last-minute refuelling, but amid the chaos there was also anger as some stations sent their prices soaring.

The Mobil service stations in Lake Albert and Wagga were among these, raising the price of E10 from 153 cents per litre to 193cpl from 5pm Wednesday, but the manager of the two stations Navim Gowda said the price jump was out of his hands.

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"The decision was made by the Mobil head office in Sydney," Mr Gowda said.

He said before Wednesday night, the Lake Albert station was "usually the cheapest in town."

The two stations selling the most expensive fuel in town on Thursday morning had unleaded going for 195.7cpl and diesel for 215.7cpl.

With just half an hour's notice to raise the price on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Gowda called around to let customers know before it was too late.

Following the price rise, Mr Gowda saw business drop by up to 50 per cent and has had many unhappy people ring up and some even share their thoughts in person.

"I've even had two to three customers shout at me saying I can't put the price up like this," he said.

However, he offered some consolation, saying he expects the company will lower the price in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Swift Service Centre owner Paul Seaman is waiting to see how everything goes before raising his prices following the end to the excise cut.

Mr Seaman was selling unleaded for 159cpl and diesel for 196cpl at his Fitzmaurice Street service station on Thursday.

He said there was no need for panic buying, because some service stations are likely to keep prices low for up to a week.

Weighing into the price jump at other stations before the excise cut ended, he said it was "not a good look."

However, he said it was also up to the service stations to make their own call as they are free to set their own prices.

Mr Seaman said recent prices have been so low that fuel profit margins have taken a hit.

With the fuel excise cut ending, he believes service station owners will now also seize on the opportunity to claw back some extra dollars for their sales.

From the consumer side of things, Tolland motorcyclist Katie Sutton believes the latest petrol price hike is "outrageous."

Ms Sutton said the government should extend the excise cut to provide some financial relief to working families.

Motorist Ozzie Fikri agreed prices are already expensive, although he is pragmatic.

"I don't really look at fuel prices because it is something I have to get anyway," he said.

Mr Fikri was passing through Wagga on his way to Narrandera on Thursday and plans to move there in the coming months.

"We're not really in control and there's not much we can really do as a consumer apart from trying not to spend money on other things so we can afford fuel," he said.

The cheapest unleaded fuel in town is 156.9cpl at the Ampol Kooringal station, while the cheapest diesel is going for 188.9cpl at Silvalite in Ashmont.

Meanwhile, NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the average price across 29 service stations in Wagga for diesel was 196cpl, while unleaded sits at 163.3cpl as of Thursday morning.

Mr Khoury warned Wagga motorists not to fill up at expensive service stations.

"Don't fill up at those service stations because it's clear the average now has been holding," he said.

"Service stations can charge whatever they want, and if that's 190cpl while the average is in the 160s, we'd encourage people to get on the NRMA app while in Wagga and check on [the prices at] a number of service stations."

Looking at the bigger picture, Mr Khoury said the wholesale petrol price jumped from 147cpl to just over 170cpl on Thursday and he expects this to be passed onto consumers across the next two to three weeks.

However, he said with oil prices gradually falling in recent months, there is hope prices will come down again in the near future.

"The trend has been positive since June and we hope that continues," Mr Khoury said.

Due to soaring prices in early 2022, the federal government cut its excise tax on fuel for a six-month period that ended at midnight on Wednesday.

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