NEW data on petrol prices across Sydney has "blown away" the myth that supermarket shopping dockets and big service stations give better value at the bowser.
Instead, a Speedway franchise at Granville (cheapest E10 and regular unleaded), an independent at Milperra (cheapest premium 95) and the Metro Fuel at Belmore (cheapest premium 98), have emerged as Sydney's best value service stations.
The most expensive? Coles Express at Kingsgrove (E10, premium 95 and premium 98) and 7-Eleven in Mosman (regular unleaded).
More than 2000 service stations in NSW must provide information to the Fair Trading website FuelCheck every time they change the price board, giving the first real-time data on prices.
Independent Australian franchises made up 14 of the 20 cheapest service stations across four fuel types, an analysis of average prices over 28 days shows.
Seventeen of 20 service stations selling the most expensive fuel were big oil companies or major chains (Coles Express, 7-Eleven, and BP).
The average price difference between the cheapest and most expensive petrol in Sydney in October was stark – a 25 cent gap for E10, 23 cent for regular unleaded, and 29.6 cent for premium 98.
Speedway Granville sold regular unleaded for an average price of 106.6, while filling up at 7-Eleven in Mosman cost an average 129.90 in the same period.
The NRMA has been closely watching the government data, which first became available two months ago, and has revealed price differences of up to 30 cent within 50 metres.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said he is unsurprised small service stations were the cheapest option.
"The independents can only compete on price. They have no other way to stay in the market. By contrast, the majors are interested in margins. They are less interested in competing on price. Until recently this strategy was working, because people didn't know the difference. But the data blows it away."
Service stations promoting supermarket docket discounts of 4 cent were often 20 cent more expensive per litre than the cheapest service stations, he said.
"Now real-time data is available it blows the shop-a-docket system out of the water," he said.
Minister for better regulation, Victor Dominello , said around 5500 motorists are using the data each day.
Sydney Morning Herald
