The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is undertaking an informal inquiry to assess the prices of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) sold as automotive transport fuel, autogas, and in LPG cylinders, in Western Australia.
The ACCC has received a number of complaints about the prices charged for autogas in WA, particularly relative to the prices paid by consumers in eastern States. Perth motorists have, on average, been paying much higher prices for LPG than their counterparts in other mainland capital cities. Given WA’s plentiful supplies of natural gas, this has raised concerns.
Concern has also been expressed about the price of bottled LPG relative to automotive gas and the industry practice of pricing bottled gas in terms of the weight of the cylinders rather than the quantity of LPG.
The ACCC is undertaking this informal inquiry so it can adequately respond to the complaints. If there is any evidence of anti-competitive conduct, this will be investigated by the ACCC.
It has distributed an issues paper to more than one hundred interested parties and invited comments for consideration during the inquiry.
This inquiry is not a public inquiry under the Prices Surveillance Act. The ACCC is seeking the cooperation of major industry players, including firms operating at the producer, wholesale/marketing and retailing levels of the autogas and bottled gas industries in order to address the concerns of complainants. Users have also been contacted.
