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Bowser power for the people

Friday 18 April, 2008 9:00am

PENRITH residents "doing it tough" will soon be able to choose where to buy petrol before they drive anywhere.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a new plan requiring petrol stations to reveal their fuel prices up to 24 hours in advance at a Cabinet meeting at Penrith Council on Tuesday before his community forum at Jamison High School.

Under the plan, drivers would also be able to find out the prices for their area by signing up to an email or SMS alert.

The move would force metropolitan fuel stations, including those in Penrith, to notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by 2pm daily of the price they intend to charge the following day.

The scheme would apply to unleaded, premium unleaded blends, diesel, LPG, 98RON and biodiesel blends.

Mr Rudd said the initiative, based on the FuelWatch scheme in Western Australia that claimed to save motorists two cents a litre, would be running by December 15 this year and would be reviewed in 12 months.

"Now this isn't foolproof, this will be difficult to implement," Mr Rudd said. "We don't have a silver bullet."

However, it was a start down the road of helping to alleviate the strain on people struggling to pay mortgages, rent and groceries, Mr Rudd said.

And he acknowledged that Penrith residents were doing it tough, mentioning discussions he had with Lindsay Federal Labor MP David Bradbury.

"What we want to do is ensure motorists are not paying one cent more than they have to at the bowser," Mr Rudd said.

"What we want to do is ensure that motorists are able to buy the cheapest petrol at the cheapest prices at the cheapest petrol stations and at the cheapest times."

The scheme would involve retailers informing the ACCC about 2pm of their proposed price for the following 24 hours, which they would be locked into.

Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Bowen said the move aimed to force prices down and introduce more competition and transparency.

"(It) means that the days of driving past a petrol station in the morning and noticing a price and driving past that same petrol station in the evening and noticing a price 10 to 15 cents higher will soon be gone," he said.

"This is a pro-market, pro-competitive reform it's a reform to make the petrol market work better for consumers."

Meanwhile the government was ready for unhappy retailers but "has to weigh up the equation between retailers and consumers", and the scheme already had NRMA support, Mr Bowen said.

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