ACCC boss says buy petrol on Tuesday

The competition watchdog has advised motorists to take advantage of the current petrol pricing system and buy when petrol falls to its lowest price each week.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel released the findings of the ACCC's inquiry into the retail petrol market, saying there was no "obvious evidence" of collusion despite popular suspicions to the contrary.

The inquiry's aim was to bring transparency and understanding to the unleaded market, not to find a way of cutting prices.

Mr Samuel said motorists about to hit the road for the Christmas holidays should continue to follow his long-time advice.

"The prices are not always high, they do go down to their lowest levels by about Tuesday. They go up high on the Wednesday," he said.

The ACCC report also sheds light on the use of computer software used by more than 3,500 petrol stations across the country to monitor the prices of competitors and set their own prices.

But Mr Samuel said using this software was not collusion.

"If we're to say that copying your competitor was a breach of the law then we'd be almost cutting out any form of discounting whatsoever," he told the Nine Network.

The Age, December 19, 2007