Aussie fuel rip-off: Service station chain allegedly sold 91-octane petrol as premium 98

A service station chain in Western Australia is facing court action for allegedly selling regular 91-octane unleaded petrol as more expensive 98-octane premium fuel, amounting to what the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) described as a “massive breach of trust”.

According to the ABC, the CPA ordered independent testing of fuel samples taken from the Burk service station chain, which operates 14 locations across Perth and regional WA.

It said all the samples of fuel sold as ‘B-Pro Premium 98’ came back as regular 91RON unleaded petrol.

Regular unleaded is not suitable for all cars, such as the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, Australia's top-selling SUV, which requires at least 95-octane premium unleaded.

Customers also pay more for 98- and 95-octane petrol than regular 91-octane unleaded.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the average price of 98-octane fuel compared to 91-octane is between 20-25 cents per litre.

This equates to customers paying up to $13.75 more per fill-up in a RAV4, which has a 55-litre fuel tank across all current hybrid vehicles.

The news comes as Australian motorists continue to face high fuel prices following record petrol and diesel pump prices earlier this year, leading the federal government to pause its fuel excise and the heavy vehicle road user charge.  

“Some people will have been putting, in good faith, what they believe to be premium 98 unleaded fuel into their high-performance car,” Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake told 102.5 ABC Perth.

“It's a significant difference in value… but also a lot of the high-performance cars only run well on the high-performance fuel.

“Particularly for something like fuel, where you do not have the independent ability as a consumer to inspect the product, to know if you're getting what you've paid for.

“You have to be able to rely and trust on the trader.”

Burk Fuel Pty Ltd and Burk Pty Ltd denied the allegations and would not comment on the pending court action, with civil proceedings taking place in the Supreme Court of WA.

There is no standard penalty for such a breach, with the maximum fine set at $100 million, three times the value of the breach, or 30 per cent of the offending company’s turnover during the breach period.

Penalties were previously handed out to Dojoo Pty Ltd, which traded as Ballina Petroleum Distributors in northern New South Wales when it was fined $400,000 for delivering nearly two million litres of regular unleaded petrol into storage tanks designated for higher-grade and premium fuels (including Premium, Ultimate, and Lead Replacement) across BP service stations between September 2004 and June 2007.

In December 2007, the Federal Court of Australia fined Dojoo managing director Santo Pennisi an additional $70,000 after the company pleaded guilty to 28 criminal charges under the Trade Practices Act for falsely representing fuel quality.

MORE: Tesla calls for Australian road-user charge on all cars, not just EVs