Bay petrol among cheapest in the country

Filling up just got more expensive. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay still has among the cheapest petrol prices in New Zealand, although prices for 91 octane vary as much as 25 cents a litre within Napier and Hastings.

Following a reported 3 cents a litre rise, the Automobile Association's weekly petrol price survey yesterday had the price of 91 octane fuel at 202.9 cents a litre. It was the first time it had been over $2 in five months.

But in Napier and Hastings it varied from 165.9 cents to 189.9c, according to Petrol price monitoring website PriceWatch, which sources information from fuel card use.

Z Energy spokesman Jonathan Hill said the 202.9 is the "national" price, and is generally about the price at about two-thirds of the stations.

The others are generally involved in "straight-out competition forces", and he said that where a nearby competitor drops its prices "we will match them".

Mr Hill said "discounting" on a scale currently being seen is a "recent phenomenon" in New Zealand, and is "quite pronounced in certain areas". Prices in some areas have been known to vary as much as 35 cents a litre.

A Caltex website explains "local market conditions," including the forces of supply, demand, competition, and government regulation have the major impacts on prices.

The number of choices in the market is often the biggest single factor, and the lowest prices in Hawke's Bay are generally around Stortford Lodge, Hastings.

Gull, which operates a station in Omahu Rd, Hastings, and will soon open an unmanned station in Karamu Rd, says stations from competing chains in closer proximity to its stations tend to have cheaper prices than those further afield.

The price for 91 octane peaked at a record-equalling 223.9c last July.