How to find the cheapest fuel in Australia

In a capital city the gap between the cheapest and the dearest servo routinely passes 40 cents a litre. On a 50-litre tank that is more than $20 — every single fill-up. Over a year it is hundreds of dollars, decided by which day you fill up and which street you turn into.

Refil shows you the cheapest station for your fuel on a map and marks the best one in green, so the decision takes a glance instead of a drive around the block.

Where the prices come from

Most Australians live in a state that forces servos to publish what they charge. Western Australia was first: FuelWatch has required next-day prices since 2001, they are published at 2:30 pm and locked for 24 hours, which is why WA has no price cycle. New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania run FuelCheck, where a station has 30 minutes to report a change. Queensland and South Australia have their own reporting schemes, and Victoria's Servo Saver publishes with a 24-hour delay written into the scheme itself.

Refil reads those schemes directly rather than scraping signs, so a price you see in the app is the price the station told its regulator. The Northern Territory has no reporting scheme, so it is not covered — we would rather leave it blank than guess.

Every scheme quotes in cents per litre. Refil converts to dollars and shows $1.899/L, the way you would read it off the board, not 189.9.

Fuente: FuelWatch (WA), FuelCheck (NSW/ACT/TAS), Queensland Fuel Price Reporting, SA Fuel Pricing Information Scheme, Servo Saver (VIC)

Fuels sold in Australia

• Unleaded 91 (ULP) — the standard grade and the one most cars take
• E10 — 91 octane with up to 10% ethanol, usually a few cents cheaper
• Premium 95 and Premium 98
• Diesel and premium diesel
• LPG (autogas), still worth checking in older converted cars
• E85 at a shrinking number of sites
• EV chargers, filtered by connector and speed

Brands and independents

Brands sit in fairly predictable bands, and the independents and warehouse sites are usually the cheapest in their area:

How to actually spend less

• Learn your city's price cycle. In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth the price does not drift — it collapses over a couple of weeks and then jumps 30-50 cents in a single morning. Filling up on the wrong day costs more than any brand choice ever will.
• In Western Australia, buy on the cheap day. FuelWatch publishes tomorrow's price at 2:30 pm today and it cannot change for 24 hours, so you can see the jump coming and beat it by a few hours.
• Check E10 against ULP 91 by the tank, not by the litre. E10 has slightly less energy, so a cent or two a litre cheaper is roughly break-even — worth it when the gap is bigger, not when it is token.
• Skip the highway service centre when the next town is ten minutes away. The premium there is not a few cents, it is often the whole spread of the city you just left.
• Only buy 95 or 98 if your owner's manual asks for it. A car designed for 91 gets no extra power and no extra economy from premium — just a dearer tank.

FAQ