Fed: FuelWatch could increase prices - owners

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2008
Fed: FuelWatch could increase prices - owners

CANBERRA, April 13 AAP - A national FuelWatch scheme similar to that introduced in
Western Australia could end up increasing the cost of petrol for motorists, service station
owners say.

Service Station Association chief executive Ron Bowden said there was no evidence the
WA scheme had achieved lower prices and, in any case, the WA market was much smaller and
different to that in the east coast.

Reports today say the federal government is considering a national FuelWatch scheme,
with Petrol Commissioner Pat Walker predicting the move could save motorists up to five
cents a litre.

But Mr Bowden said service station owners are "very concerned".

"We think that this step, if it happens, needs to be done extremely cautiously," he
told Sky News.

"We need to have a really close look at the WA situation before making such a step.

"The WA market is totally different to the east coast. It's an isolated area, there's
only one supplier. There's a limited number of players.

"Here, it's totally different.

"We don't think there's any margin available for further discounting at the retail level."

Mr Bowden said the FuelWatch scheme had had a detrimental effect on service station
operators in WA in some instances.

"People, if they're not sure what the market's going to be tomorrow, are naturally
going to be conservative and make sure they don't have to discount any more than they
need to," he said.

"We think this actually could increase average prices rather than lower them.

"There are so many other factors at play here and we need to make sure that we clearly
understand that before we make this step.

"This is a high-cost step - the cost of setting up the system, the cost of everybody
putting their numbers in, the cost of compliance, the cost of undercover policemen going
around checking on whether their passes are right.

"This will cost money and we've got to make sure there's a benefit to the consumer
before we do that."

AAP dep/jt/mn

KEYWORD: PETROL BOWDEN

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