NSW: FuelWatch will make oil companies more competitive - NRMA

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2008
NSW: FuelWatch will make oil companies more competitive - NRMA

SYDNEY, April 16 AAP - The FuelWatch scheme will make oil companies more competitive
and maintain lower average prices, NRMA chief executive Alan Evans says.

Under the scheme announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday, petrol stations
will be forced to publish prices 24 hours in advance in an effort to provide greater choice
for motorists.

"What it's done, it's actually made the oil companies more competitive because they
actually have to say what price they can sell tomorrow and will it be competitive," Mr
Evans said today.

"In Sydney or Melbourne they just follow the leader, it's usually follow the leader
up, not follow the leader down," he told the Seven Network.

The scheme, similar to one which has been operating in Perth for the past eight years,
forces petrol retailers to lock in their price by 2pm.

"You've got to make a judgment, you've got to be really competitive, you've got to
say what will be a competitive price tomorrow which will make sure I get the sales and
not someone else, whereas in the systems that operate in the eastern states, for example,
if you get it wrong you just push your price up to match the guy down the road.

"What you see in Perth is stations in the same street with different prices."

East coast motorists were still paying too much on so-called "cheap Tuesdays", Mr Evans said.

"You'll still have that (price fluctuation) cycle, but on average the NRMA's research
showed that the price in Perth came down by at least two cents."

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KEYWORD: PETROL NRMA

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