Commission studies impact of tighter standards

A decision by the Howard Government to make Australia’s fuel less damaging to the environment has pushed petrol prices up by as much as six cents a liter, according to analysis by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). “The ACCC has had discussions with market participants on the cumulative impact of the tighter fuel standards since 2002,” the commission says in a submission to a Senate inquiry into petrol prices. The new submission from the commission says the change did lift prices at the margins, and hurt independent petrol importers. “Independent importers were also affected as supplies of fuel that met the tighter fuel standards from refineries in the Asia-Pacific became more difficult to obtain,” the ACCC says. (August 2, 2006)