Australia: ACCC Reacts to First Petrol Commissioner Highlighting Petrol Price Database

After last weeks appointment of the first Petrol Comissionner, the existing head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Mr Graeme Samuel is investigating a computer database that allows the petrol companies Coles and Woolworths to monitor prices at individual petrol stations around Australia.

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says it gives enormous power to companies to hike pump prices. Mr Samuel says there needs to be further examination into whether the database raises issues under the Trade Practices Act.

"Think of the advantage it gives the seller. The sellers are sitting there in their computer rooms in their head offices, and they're saying to themselves, 'if I want to hike the price up by 10 or 15 cents, [there's] very little risk'."

Mr Samuel says there was no acceptable explanation for two price hikes in the past two months. He says that in January this year and in December the price of petrol at the pump did not match the movement of the international benchmark.