Aussie drivers being ripped off as much as $5 at the petrol bowser

Aussie motorists are being gouged as much as $5 each time they fill up, with the big petrol companies cashing in to the tune of $30 million every week.

We shouldn’t be surprised though; it’s business, after all.

The reason for this is oil prices have dropped 38 percent since late June.

You would expect in a normal course of events, petrol prices would follow - but this hasn’t been the case.

The petrol companies have a point when they insist that oil isn’t petrol, and that the markets don’t always correlate.

The Aussie dollar during this same period is also down around 10 percent.

These factors would usually combined push up petrol prices, but you would still think there would be something left for motorists.

It’s simply not happening that way at the pump, with retail petrol prices rising in November despite wholesale oil prices falling.

What this suggests is there isn’t enough competition in our capital cities forcing petrol companies into matching the drop in oil prices.

On this note, Melbourne is actually trending towards cheaper prices over an extended period of time, which separates it from the other major capital cities.

It doesn’t bode well economically for Australia.

When the oil price comes down, it flows on to every other energy source, making renewable energy, liquid natural gas and coal projects less viable.

It’s a deliberate ploy by Saudi oil owners to squeeze American producers, but has a collateral effect on our prices.

Lower petrol prices are good, if we get them – and that’s a big if – but it can hurt our overall economy.