Why can't Australians see their own fuel price data?
Every state now makes servos report their prices. But there are seven different schemes with seven sets of rules, the ACT has none, and there is still no national, open record of what Australians pay for fuel.
Who publishes fuel prices today
Until a few years ago only New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland made servos report their prices. Now every state and the Northern Territory do, most recently Victoria, which in 2026 added a daily price cap. The rules differ a great deal.
| State | Mandatory reporting | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Yes, since 2016 | FuelCheck. Retailers report each price change within 30 minutes, and the data is available through a public API. |
| WA | Yes, since 2001 | FuelWatch. Retailers set tomorrow's price by 2pm and hold it for 24 hours from 6am. Extended to every regional servo from May 2026. |
| QLD | Yes, since 2018 | Retailers report each price change within 30 minutes. Prices are published through approved apps. |
| VIC | Yes, since 2025 | Servo Saver, in the Service Victoria app. Retailers report each change within 30 minutes and set a maximum price for the next day, which they cannot exceed. |
| SA | Yes, since 2021 | Fuel Pricing Information Scheme. Retailers report their prices in real time, published through approved apps. |
| TAS | Yes, since 2020 | FuelCheck TAS. Retailers keep their reported price matched to the pump price. Rules and audits tightened in 2026. |
| NT | Yes, since 2017 | MyFuel NT. Next-day pricing from 20 April 2026, with retailers setting tomorrow's price by 2pm and can cut it but not raise it. |
| ACT | No | Canberra servos can appear on NSW FuelCheck, but reporting is not compulsory. |
So the problem is no longer that the data does not exist. It is that it is split across seven schemes with different rules, different formats and different terms of access, and there is no single national history. Nobody can easily answer a simple national question, such as what Australians paid for petrol last month and how far above wholesale it was. Our guide to the state services explains how to use each one.
The ACCC monitors fuel prices, but you can't see the data
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been directed by the government to monitor petrol prices. It buys station-level price data and publishes reports, usually quarterly and weekly during the 2026 fuel crisis.
The prices it collects are not published as they come in. Taxpayers fund the ACCC, but the detailed data stays inside it, with no download and no public feed.
The reports are useful, and we rely on the ACCC's cycle analysis in our price cycle guide. But they are summaries in PDF form. They do not let anyone check a claim, study a region, or follow prices in a state with weaker reporting.
How other countries handle it
United States
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides free, public, weekly fuel price data at national, state, and regional levels. GasBuddy and other services supplement with station-level data.
European Union
The EU mandates member states to provide fuel price data. The European Commission's Oil Bulletin publishes weekly consumer prices across all member states. Many countries have real-time station-level databases.
United Kingdom
The UK government publishes weekly average fuel prices. In 2024, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) launched an open fuel price database requiring major retailers to report prices in real-time.
South Korea
Opinet provides real-time fuel prices for every station nationwide through a free public API and website, operated by the Korea National Oil Corporation.
What we're calling for
National mandatory price reporting
Every fuel retailer should report under the same rules in every state and territory, including the ACT. Today there are seven schemes with different deadlines, price rules and access terms.
A free, public, national API
The data should be available through a free, open API that anyone, including developers, researchers, journalists and consumers, can access. Not locked behind commercial data providers.
Access to historical data
Australians should be able to access historical fuel price data to identify trends, price gouging, and the true relationship between crude oil prices and what we pay at the pump.
ACCC data made public
The data the ACCC already collects using taxpayer money should be made available to the taxpayers who fund it. Not just in quarterly PDF reports, but in real-time, machine-readable formats.
What secrecy costs
Drivers who don't know the state apps exist, or live where reporting is weak, pay more than they need to. The price cycle in the big cities can swing by 20 to 30 cents a litre or more, which costs families who buy at the wrong time hundreds of dollars a year. Regional drivers often pay much more with no easy way of seeing why.
Retailers face less pressure to compete when customers can't see what the servo down the road charges. And economists and policy makers can't study the market properly without complete data.
Fuel excise rates now
Fuel excise is a fixed tax per litre, indexed to CPI twice yearly (February and August). These rates are set by the ATO under the Excise Tariff Act 1921.
| Fuel | ATO tariff item | Rate () |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol (unleaded) | 10.5 | c/L |
| Diesel | 10.10 | c/L |
| Petrol/ethanol blends (E10) | 10.7 | c/L on petrol portion |
| Diesel/biodiesel blends | 10.12 | c/L on diesel portion |
| LPG (autogas) | 10.19A | 17.5 c/L |
| Biodiesel | 10.21 | 19.7 c/L |
| Denatured ethanol | 10.20 | 17.6 c/L |
Rates from the ATO's excise duty rates for fuel and petroleum products. The CPI indexation factor from 3 Aug 2026 is 1.020.
What you can do
Share this page. Talk about it. Ask your local MP why fuel price data isn't public in your state.
Use our petrol price calculator to understand how price changes affect your budget. And demand better from the institutions that are supposed to represent your interests.
Fuel is not a luxury. It's a necessity for millions of Australians. The data about what we're paying and why should be public, free, and accessible to all.
See also Fuel cost calculator · Oil prices and the dollar