Petrol prices in Australia's largest cities tend to move in cycles. Currently, there are weekly price cycles in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Price cycles are characterised by a rapid increase in prices to a peak (referred to as a "hike") and then a slower decrease of prices. Price cycles are a marketing strategy developed by petrol companies and do not reflect movements in the cost of the product. Price cycles do not occur in regional areas.
Fuel retailers have to notify FuelWatch of their prices for tomorrow by 2.00pm each day. If the notified prices indicate a price cycle will be commencing on the following day, FuelWatch alerts email subscribers, issues media releases and publishes a news story on the website from 2.30pm. This gives Perth motorists a warning that prices will be increasing. Subscribe to be a day ahead of any price hikes and save up to 20 cents per litre. More tips to save money can be found below.
Currently Perth has a weekly petrol price cycle. Generaly, all the petrol related products move together, so if you buy PULP or 98RON, you should also monitor what is happening with petrol prices. FuelWatch publishes a graph showing the price trend over the last month for all fuel products.
In a typical petrol price cycle, a number of sites (the price-leaders) "hike" their prices on Wednesday, commencing a new price cycle. The price leader/s will usually increase their prices by between 8 and 14 cpl, however increases of 18 cpl have occurred in the past. On the first couple of days of a new price cycle many retailers may keep their prices low, or even continue to decrease them.
Other retailers will usually follow the "hiked" prices on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday, prices are usually decreasing once more. FuelWatch encourages motorists, as far as possible, to avoid the peak of the cycle, when cheaper prices are harder to find.
Currently, the lowest average price during a Perth price cycle is on Tuesday, and the highest average price is on Friday.
Diesel is a less volatile product. Generally, diesel price changes usually only reflect movements in international prices.
There is no clear cut price cycle for LPG in Perth. A number of LPG retailers only change their prices in response to a change in the international benchmark price for LPG, which changes once per month. This type of change in retail price is usually seen in the market in the first week of the month. We encourage LPG motorists to check the international benchmark price for LPG during the first few days of the month, so they are aware what the pricing trend may be for that month.
Some LPG retailers however, do attempt to introduce regular price cycles as part of their marketing strategy, and these are unrelated to changes in the international price. These may occur on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

Knowing where in the price cycle fuel prices are can help you save hundreds of dollars a year. Understanding the price cycle will assist you to time your purchases and benefit from the cheapest buys.