ACCC worried about supermarket petrol discounts

COLES and Woolworths may be damaging competition in the petrol market by offering shoppers discounts of up to 45 cents per litre, the competition watchdog says. 
 
The shopper docket discounts could eliminate other petrol retailers and cause petrol prices to rise, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims warned.

While the watchdog can't ban shopper dockets, it can take legal action to stop anti-competitive market activity, he says.

“We're about protecting competitive processes,” Mr Sims told reporters after addressing an Australian Institute of Company Directors lunch.

“If these shopper dockets continue at these levels, it's going to be very hard for other players to compete, and we may end up with two companies in the country selling petrol, which is not going to be in your (the consumers') interest.”

If the retail giants wanted to offer large discounts, they should do so on groceries and food, he said.
The ACCC has been investigating shopper docket offers by the major supermarket chains since mid-2012, and expects to finalise its probe in the next few months.

Mr Sims said he became concerned when fuel discounts hit eight cents per litre, but of late the discounts have reached as much as 45 cents per litre.

The 45 cents per litre discount was not universal, and required a very large amount of groceries to be bought, or purchases of specific items, Mr Sims said.

theaustralian.com.au 29 July 2013

The so called consumer watchdog, the ACCC, being spineless, has literally done NOTHING with respect to the Australian supermarket and petrol duopoly to help the consumers.

The consumers may believe that the watchdog is 'for' the consumer, where in reality it works for the benefit of the corporations.

There has been nothing done by the ACCC with respect to price fixing and collusion

The ACCC is supposed to be an 'authority' with 'powers', what a pathetic JOKE!