KEY POINTS:
Hefty fuel price increases have disappointed the Automobile Association (AA). AA director of motoring affairs, Mike Noon, said though the price increase was inevitable, he was surprised by the size of it.Regular unleaded petrol increased to 143.9 cents per litre, premium to 148.9 cents per litre and diesel to 99.9 cents per litre.
This forum debate is now closed. Here is a selection of your views.
Kevin
One way to hurt them: the first company to increase fuel prices boycott that company that week. It is going to hurt them but us being Kiwis the old attitude is that she will be ok . That is why they always win. Wake up, boycott them.
Dayne Kells
What everyone, especially populist politicians never remembers is that the biggest chunk in the price of petrol is the Taxes. When crude prices go up, taxes increase by the same percentage. I never hear the government suggesting that tax percentage are reduced since the total amount of taxes taken from Petrol has almost doubled in the last 5-8 years.
Stockie
It is funny when petrol goes down its 1 cent or 2 cents,but when it goes up its 6 or 7 cents,and all the companies go to the same amount,funny?
James Growley
Last month, the Australian ACCC demanded that oil companies lower the price of fuel as the prices being charged could not be justified. In addition, it was alleged that the supermarket chains were keeping the price artificially high by as much as 10 cents a litre to offset their discount fuel regime. What happened - well the very next day the price of fuel came down in Australia by some 14 cents per litre.So, why can our gutless wonders in Wellington not take the same hard line for us in NZ?
Sam
Amazing that not one of the petrol companies is prepared to have a lower price than any of the others, would increase their market share? It smacks of price fixing. The Commerce Commission should investigate.
Peter
Hi, same here in the Netherlands. Due to international market, blah, blah blah. Our price is at the moment NZ 2,55,a litre.
Peter Williams
Why are prices higher in Aus? Mainly because they pay a lot less tax and their dollar is stronger. they pay 10 per cent GST we pay 12.5 per cent. They pay 38cents tax we pay 49 cents. ANd their dollar buys 15 per cent more US dollars than our one does. Go to the Govt website med.govt.nz and it's clear. We pay about the same as everyone else in the world. the big difference is tax. It is simple maths people. Go to Europe if you want to see expensive petrol.
Michael
The oil price went up, all other prices went up. The oil price went down,all other prices went up. The oil price goes up again, all other prices go up again. The oil price goes down, all other prices continue to go up. The oil price goes up again even more than it did before. Funny how so many capitalist pigs use the oil price as an excuse to raise prices but never lower them when the oil price goes down. Inflation controlled from off shore interest and fuel even more so by local capitalist profiteering. We are just damn lucky we have a centre left govt that retains some small hold on price regulation.
Keith
One has only to weigh up the pros and cons to see that we're being conned by the pros!
Erika
Drive less, walk more, bike more. Lower your consumption of oil and that way you wont be affected by increases. When you have the choice to drive half a kilometre or walk it, choose the latter. When you can park and walk to run errands, as opposed to drive right to the doorstep, then park and walk. When you have to drive less than 5kms, consider biking (with a helmet and some attitude). NZ already has a obesity problem from people sitting/driving too much and not being active. Remember "car-less days" in the 70s? People got by then. Of course if you have to drive for your job, then you are taking on more cost, which cannot be helped. However the person driving in his/her spare time is quite capable of making choices to drive less and consume less oil. E.g. if your at Botany Downs shopping center, consider walking to the other end as opposed to driving. Maybe car-less days should come back?
Tim Saunders
I think the increase in the price of petrol is excellent news. Further increases would be even better as they will discourage the presence of frequently ill-driven SUVs, dangerous both to normal sized cars and cyclists on our roads. Further increases will be even better. For those who want to send a message to the petrol companies: do as I do - get on yer bike.
Eileen
Just another very big rip off. But then the government doesn't mind as just think of all the extra tax they get. Just wait for other things to go up soon as well.
Tony Weddle
The increase is insignificant considering the enormous amount of energy that a litre of petrol contains. Try pushing a car as far and as fast as a litre of fuel can, to get an idea of just how valuable this fuel is. Its also a limited resource. Current oil production data would seem to suggest that such production may have reached a peak, or will do so soon. Consequently, this price rise, and more, is needed to reduce demand as oil production starts to decline.
Carl Forster
It is just a another case of gouging by both the fuel companies and this Labour Government (tax on fuel - GST - and the road taxes)
Robert
High petrol prices are good for the environment and help resolving Aucklands traffic overload situation. Getting out of the car is good for everyones health. if you resent the oil companies creaming us off, buy their shares and enjoy the dividends!
Jim Donald
It was certainly ironic to read that at least in part the price of petrol was rising due to weakness in the NZD and on the same page to also read that the NZD was stronger across the board. We are but pawns in a cynical game the oil companies play in their continuing search for ever higher profits.
Allan King
It is obvious to most people of this country, that when it comes to rip offs, the oil cartels are the best. They of course will deny that there is a cartel but, it is funny that they all sell the petrol at the same price. You cannot tell me that they all come to an individual decision on what to charge. No, I suspect they are on the phone to each other to decide a price. So, what does that tell you. To me it means Price Fixing. It will be interesting to see if the investigation into the oil companies in Australia comes to anything. Then we could have one here.
Hugh
You could try riding a bike...it doesn't use petrol, its a lot cheaper, and probably will help you reduce the size of your fat car driving behinds.
Bernard Holmes
While Kiwis are paying more for petrol with the latest hike in prices, our prices are going down here in Missouri. Unleaded gas in our town is $1.90 a gallon compared to a high last year of $2.89.
Pete
I have sort of been keeping an eye on this. When petrol was US$66 a barrel, price here was $1.429 for unleaded 91. Then petrol overseas kept on dropping and dropping right down to just under US$50 barrel! Thats almost a 25 per cent drop, which meant it should have gone down to $1.08 here, but oh no, we got a measley 5c drop. Admittedly, its gone back up overseas to US$58 barrel, which is still cheaper than what it was in November, and now they put it back up again, just a RipOff. they say its because of the NZ Dollar. What a load of BS.
Kevin McQuillan
NZ motorists are being ripped off. Today in Melbourne the price of unleaded petrol is A$1.04 per litre - thats $1.10. Why is NZ fuel 30 per cent higher than Australian fuel? If there was true competition, the petrol companies would be offering different prices and they would be far lower than they currently are.
Glenn Wilson
Love your on-line edition of the paper. Read it often. Filled up with gas/ petrol in Calgary Alberta last week. @ .76c/ litre . If I shop Tuesdays and Thursdays, take another 2 cents off. But we have huge regional disparities in pricing. Go to Penticton , British Columbia and petrol is 94 cents.
Nick
Its all a scam. Buy $20 worth of groceries and receive 5c off at Shell or whereever. What about when the NZDUSD was 40-50c. How many times did the price of gas drop on it's way up to 70c+ ???? Surely the price should have dropped way under a $1 when it started to make its way up to NZDUSD .70c but instead we get $1.70 prices when the NZDUSD started dropping from 70c.
Matthew Brown
A Call to New Zealand Citizens: You know you are paying too much for petrol! Fight back! Use your freedom to boycott the next petrol company to be the first to raise prices! Last time it was BP! Who will it be next? It is illegal for all the companies to raise their prices simultaneously since this would be anti-competitive! If we stick togther like the big Kiwi family that we are we can beat these greedy international conglomerates!
Alan T
Why complain! The answer is simple boycott BP the largest petrol company in NZ and watch how quickly the price comes down. We dont have any reason to moan as we have control over our dollar so spend it to effect change. See if they print this one.
Douglas
The petrol companies needed to put up prices to recoup the margin "lost' through the supermarket 4 to 10 cent per litre discount! Another marketing scam.
Susan
Why cant all the oil companies agree on the reasons why the price is going up? Reading the article it didn't seem that they could. Anyone else smell a rat?
Sonja
I am still waiting for a reduction of the fuel prices in line with the rising value of the NZ$ of three years ago. There is a huge difference between the value of the NZ$ to the US$ three years ago until now. We have so far not had the benefit from that. We were told at the time of the sharp rise that, because oil had been bought with forward exchange contracts it could take 12 months before those benefits hit. We are still waiting - I wonder if the shareholders are as well?
Mark J
By now, we all know that burning fossil fuels is contributing to global warming and we are only now as a species becoming aware of the serious impact this is having upon us and the rest of the world. I am glad that it is becoming more difficult for people to buy petrol. At some stage there will be no petrol left at all and we should all be aware of this and stop complaining about rising costs as it is inevitable that there will a continuous rise until there is none left.
Lois P
Absolutely amazed at the 6 cent increase. They don't waste any time putting it up, but they didnt damn well go down when it dropped, did they??? We got caught yesterday when going away and to top it off we forgot our 6 cents a litre discount docket. ARRGH!!!! They are conning us all the time.
Michelle
This is absolute crap. Just look at the figures on the Ministry of Economic Development website to see the latest price per barrel, exchange rate and the margin they are making per litre. Factor that in with their lovely profits they make per year. There was no reason for them to raise the price, its ridiculous. The NZ public is not safe from monopolies at all, the petrol giants are one big collaborative monopoly and make Telecom seem beautiful!
Lawrence Thoms
The recent 6c per litre increase just reverses some of the recent falls. Consumers must get used to increasingly higher prices and consider their wastage (many car trips are < 2 km) and inefficient vehicles (SUVs, V8, untunned etc). High petrol prices seam to be the most effective way to get consumers to consider their wasteful ways.
Rob
I have to wonder about the legitimacy of the increase. Lower dollar, higher crude prices, what a joke. BP increase so Shell follow suit to remain competitive? Can you imagine how much business an outlet would lose if it raised prices while no one else did. What they ought to be saying in these press releases is We are greedy money grubbing souless rip-off merchants hiking prices for no real reason other than to further feather our nests.
Tom
Is this price rise due to the usage of vouchers from the supermarkets? Did the oil companies think that most people would not use the vouchers? 4 cents a litre, and sometimes up to 10 cents a litre has got to hurt their bottom line if a lot of people are using them. Maybe this increase is payback!
Garrett
Perhaps the AA would be more believable in their protestations at petrol prices, if they hadnt sold out to BP with AA rewards points. They encourage all their members to use the first company to increase prices. Independent, I think not.
Kim
How can petrol companies claim they are competitive when they all match each other, there is no such thing as competition otherwise we would see different prices. If the supermarkets can offer discounts then there must be some gap somewhere, so something doesnt add up.
Greg Doherty
Fluctuating oil prices and a petrol increase are a nonsense, when todays news indicates a rising NZ dollar, following yesterdays news of Kiwi dropping below 68 cents US.
Cameron
The justification for the price increase is crap. The 6c increase has pushed their margins higher than it was a week ago, and international pricing is indicating that the price has dropped since the start of this week. While the decreasing dollar has reduced the benefit of the price decreases, the petrol companies still have a very healthy margin, well above what it was 3 months ago.
