Goolgowi Roadhouse, just half an hour north-west of Griffith, is slowly building a reputation for the cheapest fuel outside of Sydney.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Motorists were pleasantly surprised with the 125.9¢ per litre price for both regular unleaded and diesel.
“I make a point of waiting to fill up at the roadhouse,” one happy punter said.
Navi Singh from the roadhouse said the lower price was a way of attracting motorists to the town, but admitted word of mouth was spreading slower than he would like.
The roadhouse is on the Midwestern Highway at Goolgowi, also called Zara Street, on the way out to Rankin Springs.
According to the NRMA’s Petrol Watch website the lowest average price in NSW on Wednesday was at Tweed Heads South with 126.2¢ per litre for unleaded and 129.5¢ for diesel.
Tweed Heads, just over the border from historically cheaper Queensland, typically recorded the lowest average. Griffith petrol stations meanwhile were all substantially higher, 142.4¢ per litre for unleaded and 136.9¢ for diesel.
Petrol retailers have come under increased scrutiny from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over the pricing of regional fuel, which remained well above cheaper metropolitan prices.
Earlier this year Caltex Australia communications adviser Sam Collyer told Fairfax Media oil retailers do not hold back savings to regional consumers – instead pointing to the impact of lower volumes of fuel and convenience products being sold, slower turnover of inventories, the lower number of customers and service stations and the higher transport and storage costs outside metropolitan areas.
However the cheap prices on offer at Goolgowi Roadhouse, some 16.5¢ per litre cheaper than Griffith, tell a different story.
In fact, the Petrol Watch website showed Leeton continued to be substantially cheaper than Griffith at 136.5¢ per litre for unleaded.
NRMA research showed independent sellers created competition in the market, and that was what brought about cheaper petrol prices.
Regardless of the reason, motorists were increasingly pulling into the roadhouse for the cheap fuel.
The ‘price cycle’ was largely ignored by the roadhouse.
The cycle, which sees different days of the week attract higher or lower prices in a regular pattern, can force pump prices to fluctuate as much as 20 cents a litre – sometimes driving the pump price below the wholesale price, sometimes forcing it well above. The reason as to why there was a pricing cycle was something that even the ACCC hadn't been able to answer.