Burk, an independent fuel retailer, is urgently calling for reforms to FuelWatch, the state’s system for monitoring fuel prices.
Located in Cannington, the retailer mistakenly set diesel prices to nearly $4 per liter due to an input error.
Umar Farooq, Burk’s managing director, expressed frustration to 9News, stating, “Charging that much is unreasonable; we’re not going to sell at that rate.”
The station intended to offer the lowest diesel prices in the region but ended up listing it as the highest at $3.97 per liter because of a simple typo.
Farooq explained their attempts to correct the mistake by contacting FuelWatch repeatedly by phone and email, only to be met with the response, “You must adhere to the price reported.”
Fuel companies are legally obligated to report their prices to FuelWatch by 2 PM daily, and these prices must remain unchanged for a full 24 hours.
“That means it’s almost like a reverse auction,” Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake told 9News.
“They have to tell us what their best price is without knowing what their competitors are doing.”
But Burk is now pleading for common sense when it comes to genuine errors.
“This is a very unfortunate case,” Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said.
“Happy to take it up with the relevant ministers.”
In the meantime, the independent retailer found its own workaround by offering a discount on diesel to customers: simply smile for $1.04 per litre off the advertised price.
Across 17 stations, it’s the first mistake for Burk in six years.
As for the employee responsible, Farooq said, “she’s going to be really fine”.
“She’s going to say with us for very long I reckon,” he added.
NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.
