PETROL stations jack up prices up to eight times faster than they drop them, a five-year review has found. And the worst spots for this in Victoria are Bendigo, Ararat, Benalla and Yarrawonga, the study by the University of New England, in NSW, concluded.
Professor of macroeconomics Abbas Valadkhani likened the phenomenon, dubbed "rocket-feather pricing", to that of banks quickly slugging customers with higher interest rates but passing on rate reductions at a slower pace.
"When the cost of petrol goes up, the retail price shoots up like a rocket. But when the wholesale cost goes down, the price goes down like a feather," Prof Valadkhani said.
His research, which studied outlets at 111 metropolitan and country locations nationwide, examined the speed of price movements when retail unleaded fuel prices were substantially above or below expected levels.