Petrol prices have surged across Australia just days out from the school holidays with motorists being slugged almost $1.70 a litre.
Drivers are also bracing for more pain at the pump, with warnings the cost of fuel is set to rise even further.
The price of unleaded fuel reached as high as 167.9c a litre in Melbourne on Monday, the most expensive it has been in the city since-mid 2008, according to fuel data source MotorMouth.
Back then, drivers were forking out about $1.70 a litre to fill up their vehicles, The Herald Sun reported.
Australian motorists are being slugged almost $1.70 a litre for unleaded fuel thanks to a weak Australian and high global oil and wholesale prices (stock image)
Of the Melbourne metropolitan petrol stations monitored by the RACV, about half had increased prices to the new high by Monday afternoon.
Motorists are currently feeling the effects of a weak Australian dollar and high global oil and wholesale prices.
RACV vehicle engineering manager Michael Case told The Herald Sun that ‘fuel prices have been influenced by an underlying increase in oil prices’.
‘The increased oil price has a flow-on effect which extends to the wholesale price of refined petrol, and subsequently the prices we see at the pump,’ he said.
The price of unleaded fuel in Sydney on Monday, which reached as high as 167.4c a litre, as reported by Seven News
Drivers across Sydney have been faced with unleaded petrol prices of more than $1.60 a litre in recent days, with the cost expected to remain high throughout the school holidays. Pictured, the price of fuel at one service station in the city, as reported by Seven News on Monday
The average petrol price in Sydney hit 162.2c a litre on Monday, with the wholesale petrol price currently at a four-year high.
Some petrol stations across the city had prices as high as 167.4c a litre.
‘As we approach the school holidays in New South Wales next week, we expect prices to remain elevated. Petrol prices are lifting at the moment, that’s putting pressure on household budgets,’ Ryan Felsom, Commsec Senior Economist, told Seven News.
Prices in Brisbane are slightly less expensive, although they have been nudging $1.60 a litre.
Across the nation’s other major cities, pertol prices are either at or close to $1.60 a litre.