Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson issues warning to servos that ‘rip off’ customers

WA’s Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has warned fuel operators who are “continuing to rip off customers” by failing to pass on the reduced fuel excise that they could face prosecution. As revealed by The West Australian, Perth service station owners have been rorting the taxpayer-funded fuel excise cuts to rake in nearly double the profits they saw before the Iran war. Ms Sanderson on Sunday said she was concerned that some fuel retailers may not be passing on to motorists the Federal Government’s 26¢-a-litre fuel excise discount that came into effect on April 1. “The State Government is working closely with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor the margins between the wholesale price and the retail price for both unleaded and diesel fuel,” she said. “We do expect retailers to pass that excise on as soon as practicable. Under WA’s consumer protection laws, the Commissioner for Consumer Protection is now initiating inquiries regarding retailers’ conduct. “If there is evidence of breaches of Australian consumer law, the Commissioner will take action.” WA’s consumer watchdog has already issued dozens of infringements as part of a separate crackdown on fuel station pricing breaches. Ms Sanderson said 33 outlets had received infringements for breaching the “24-hour rule”, which requires fuel retailers to notify FuelWatch of their prices by 2pm each day and keep them fixed for 24 hours from 6am the next day. “As part of a targeted program which began on March 9, officers from Consumer Protection have visited 645 outlets, 445 in the metropolitan area and 200 in regional WA,” Ms Sanderson said. “As a result of these inspections, 33 infringement notices have been issued — in particular for breaches of the 24-hour rule — since February 29.” A further three fuel outlets were still under investigation. In another positive development for WA drivers — the price at the bowser is forecast to drop again on Monday across all types of fuel. The average for diesel will be 313.6, while regular unleaded petrol will fall to around 213.1 per litre. It comes as the number of service stations reporting outages of at least one type of fuel plunged to just eight, down from around 60 on Good Friday. Ms Sanderson seized on the reduced number of outages as proof the State Government’s efforts to boost supply chains were working. “This is a huge reduction from around a week ago, where we saw several times that amount,” she said. “And it goes to show that the work that we’re doing across Western Australia is working to get fuel where it’s needed most.” As revealed by The Sunday Times, the Cook Government is looking to secure its own fuel reserves for future emergencies. Ms Sanderson said it was considering increasing the fuel security resilience of WA’s supply chains, particularly in regional areas. “That’s why we’re considering a strategic stockpile for Western Australia,” she told reporters on Sunday. “That means this would be additional volumes of diesel purchased by the state government and held in storage for times when it’s tough and where we’re seeing challenges in those supply chains.” Opposition leader Basil Zempilas criticised the lack of detail around the announcement and said the Government should have moved much earlier to shore up emergency fuel supplies. “It’s been a glaring void in the future planning and resilience in this space,” he said. “The Liberal-National opposition asked for and called for a parliamentary inquiry into fuel resilience in WA, and it was knocked back by the Labor Government as recently as 2023.”