If you've noticed petrol suddenly costing 20 or 30 cents a litre more than last week, you've met the fuel price cycle. In Australia's biggest cities many service stations move their unleaded prices in a repeating pattern, and knowing where you are in it is one of the easiest ways to save money.
What the cycle looks like
A cycle has two parts. First a sharp rise: over a day or two, the big retailers lift their prices a long way, often by 20 to 40 cents a litre. Then a slow fall: over the following days or weeks, stations undercut each other bit by bit until prices are near the bottom again. Then the next rise comes.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has tracked these cycles for years. They show up mostly in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (and nearby areas like Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong and the Gold Coast). The length of the cycle varies by city and changes over time: some have been roughly weekly, others several weeks long.
Which fuels are affected
The cycle is strongest for regular unleaded (91) and E10. Premium unleaded usually follows along, as it's priced at a margin above regular unleaded. Diesel prices tend to follow wholesale costs more than a retail cycle, so they move more gently. Smaller towns and regional areas often don't have a clear cycle at all.
How to beat the cycle
- Fill up near the bottom. When prices have been falling for a while, they're usually close to their low point.
- Avoid the days right after a jump. If prices have just risen sharply, buy only what you need until they start falling.
- Look for the stations that haven't moved yet. During a rise, some stations lift their prices a day or two later than others.
- Use the trend. Fuelroo's Trends tab and our weekly reports show which way prices are heading where you live.
- Set a price alert in the Fuelroo app, and you'll be told when a station near you drops to your price.
Western Australia is different
In WA, every station must set one price for the whole day, starting at 6 am, and tell FuelWatch the afternoon before. So in Perth you can see tomorrow's price today and decide whether to fill up now or wait. Fuelroo shows both.
This week's prices
See where the cycle is right now in each city: Sydney · Melbourne · Brisbane · Perth · Adelaide · Gold Coast · Newcastle · Wollongong · Geelong.