MOTORISTS are being urged to keep an eye for rising fuel prices in the lead up to the long weekend.
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The NRMA says people should look to fill up now, before any price surge, but some local retailers say motorists just need to be a bit more discerning when fuelling-up.
Owner of The North Store service stations, Ben Clifton, told The Leader he won’t be shifting his prices on account of the public holiday.
In fact, he’ll be giving it away.
“Over the last four to six weeks, we've noticed wholesale prices trending upwards,” Mr Clifton said.
“If anyone does jump up, call them out, there’s no real reason to do it other than grab at the market that’s moving around.”
Ahead of long weekends, The North Store has given away a tank of fuel at its Manilla and Kootingal stations, to a deserving member of the community.
The stations recently raised its fuel prices, but Mr Clifton said there was benefit to being open and communicating with customers.
“We notified our customers via Facebook about wholesale price movements on Thursday … it ended up being two of our biggest trading days since opening,” he said.
Oxley Vale Superette owner, Nick Summers, also said his fuel price wouldn’t be drifting north come the long weekend.
“It’s not doing a lot,” Mr Summers said.
“If there is a big increase, it’s just oil companies getting greedy.”
He said there wasn’t an ideal day to fill up and said his fuel prices were some of the cheapest in town.
“For my business, fuel isn’t everything,” he said.
“We have liquor and and takeaway food. “So there isn’t a need to put ridiculous margins on fuel.”
However, the NRMA is bracing for price rises and is urging NSW motorists to fill up now.
In regional NSW, petrol prices rose on average 0.4 cents per litre and 0.5 cents per litre for regular unleaded and diesel in the last seven days.
NRMA spokesperson, Peter Khoury, encouraged motorists to do their research.
“According to the NRMA App, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive service stations can be up to 35 cents per litre,” Mr Khoury said.
“With prices expected to rise in the coming days that gap could worsen – so it’s important to do your research and fill up as soon as possible.”