The ten-second rule
Take the wholesale price for your city, add 10 to 15c a litre, and you have a fair pump price for regular unleaded or diesel. Anything more than 20c above wholesale is well past a normal margin.
The wholesale price is the terminal gate price, published every weekday morning by the Australian Institute of Petroleum for each capital. It is what retailers pay the big four wholesalers, BP, Ampol, Viva Energy and ExxonMobil, to collect fuel from the terminal, and it already includes excise and GST. We put it on a page for each city, with the fair range worked out for you.
The 10 to 15c covers getting fuel from the terminal to the servo, running the site, card fees and a profit. It is a long-run typical figure for the capitals, not a law, and a servo is entitled to charge what it likes. The point is to know when you are paying for a margin rather than for fuel.
This week's numbers
Here is what the rule gives for regular unleaded on 7 October 2026.
| City | Wholesale petrol | Fair pump price | Well over a normal margin above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 236.6 | 247–252 | 257 |
| Adelaide | 236.9 | 247–252 | 257 |
| Melbourne | 238.9 | 249–254 | 259 |
| Sydney | 239.1 | 249–254 | 259 |
| Brisbane | 239.3 | 249–254 | 259 |
| Hobart | 243.5 | 254–259 | 264 |
| Darwin | 246.0 | 256–261 | 266 |
Cents a litre, rounded. The city pages update every weekday; these figures are a snapshot.
Two things stand out. The five big mainland capitals are within 3c of each other at the terminal gate, so a large difference between, say, Brisbane and Melbourne at the pump is almost all retail margin. And Darwin and Hobart start higher, for reasons we cover in why fuel costs more in some capitals.
A worked example
You are in Brisbane on 7 October and the servo on your way to work shows unleaded at 268.9c. Wholesale in Brisbane is 239.3c. The difference is 29.6c a litre, about double a normal margin. On a 50-litre fill that is about $7 more than even the top of the fair range, 254c, and $380 a year if you fill up weekly and always pay that much over.
That does not mean the servo is doing anything wrong. In a city with a price cycle, margins of 30c or more are normal for a few days after prices jump, before competition pulls them back. It does mean you can probably do better by driving to a cheaper servo nearby or, if your tank allows, waiting. The price cycle guide explains how to tell where in the cycle you are.
Where the rule doesn't apply
Regional and remote areas
Terminal gate prices are set at the major import terminals in the capitals and a few regional ports. A servo 400 kilometres inland pays to truck fuel there, sells less of it, and often has little competition. Regional prices above the city range are expected; the useful comparison there is with other towns the same distance from a terminal.
Premium fuel
The published terminal gate price is for regular unleaded and diesel. Premium 95 and 98 cost more at the wholesale level too, so the rule does not tell you whether a premium price is fair. Compare premium with premium, and check whether your car actually needs it in our guide to E10, 91 and premium.
Diesel at truck stops
Diesel prices often differ between car-focused servos and truck stops on highways, which sell to fleets on account and may post a different price at the pump. The rule still works as a check on diesel in the cities.
Discounts and dockets
A 4c docket or a loyalty discount is a real saving, but it comes off whatever the servo has chosen to charge. A 4c discount at a servo charging 25c over wholesale still leaves you paying 21c over.
Check a price now
Each city page has a checker. Type in the price on the sign and it tells you how far above wholesale it is. Pick your city from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin or Hobart.
To find the actual cheapest servo near you, use your state's official price service, listed in how to check servo prices in your state.
Where these figures come from
Wholesale prices are the terminal gate prices published each weekday by the Australian Institute of Petroleum, which we hold back to 2004. The national figure is AIP's own average where it has published one, and our weighted calculation in between, which matches AIP's to within 0.1c. Oil and currency prices are delayed market closes. Excise rates are the ATO's. We check every figure against that data before publishing and correct mistakes in the update log. Spotted one? Email hello@thepetrolprice.com.