At a glance
| Where | Official service | What servos must do |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | FuelCheck | Report each price change within 30 minutes. Mandatory since 2016. |
| ACT | FuelCheck | Canberra servos can appear on FuelCheck, but reporting has not been compulsory there. |
| Victoria | Servo Saver, in the Service Victoria app | Report each change within 30 minutes, and set tomorrow's maximum price by 2pm. Prices can fall during the day but not rise above the cap. |
| Queensland | Approved price apps using the state's data | Report each change within 30 minutes. Trialled from December 2018 and made permanent. |
| South Australia | Approved price apps using the state's data | Report price changes in real time. Mandatory since March 2021. |
| Western Australia | FuelWatch | Tell the government tomorrow's price by 2pm and hold it for 24 hours from 6am. In place since 2001; extended to all regional servos from May 2026. |
| Tasmania | FuelCheck TAS | Register and keep the reported price matched to the pump price. Mandatory since 2020, with tougher rules and audits in 2026. |
| Northern Territory | MyFuel NT | Mandatory reporting since 2017. From 20 April 2026, set the next day's price by 2pm; it can be cut during the day but not raised. |
Rules as published by each state's consumer affairs or fair trading regulator, checked in October 2026. Schemes change, so check your state's service for the current rules.
Two different ideas
The schemes fall into two groups, and they change how you should use them.
Real-time reporting, in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, tells you what each servo is charging right now. It is good for finding the cheapest servo nearby and for spotting the ones that have not yet joined a price jump. It does not stop a servo raising its price an hour after you checked.
Next-day pricing, in Western Australia, Victoria and now the Northern Territory, makes servos commit in advance, and a price cannot go up during the day. In Western Australia and Victoria tomorrow's prices are published the afternoon before. That makes it much easier to plan. If tomorrow is dearer, fill up today.
If you live in Perth or Melbourne, check tomorrow's prices after 4pm. It is the single most useful habit for paying less, and it takes a minute.
Getting the most out of them
- Look at the spread, not just the cheapest. If most servos near you are 30c above the cheapest, a price cycle has just jumped and the cheap ones are about to follow. Fill up there today.
- Check the wholesale price too. The apps tell you what servos charge; our city pages tell you what they pay. Together they tell you whether today is a good day at all.
- Compare the same fuel. Apps often default to E10 or 91. If your car takes premium or diesel, change the setting.
- Count the drive. A servo 10 kilometres away and 5c cheaper saves about $2.50 on a 50-litre fill and costs you 20 kilometres of driving, which is about $4 in a typical car. Only detour for big gaps or if it is on your way.
Why there is no national service
Fuel retailing is regulated by the states. The ACCC monitors prices for the federal government and publishes reports, but it does not publish station-level prices, and there is no national scheme that requires them. We think there should be one, and say why on our transparency page.
For a fair benchmark that works everywhere, including places where the state data is thin, use the wholesale price for your nearest capital and add 10 to 15c. How to tell if you're paying too much explains how.
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.