Petrol cheaper in Sydney than in Orange over Anzac Day long weekend

In doing so, you may have noticed that in some areas, petrol was at least 20 cents cheaper for your unleaded fuel (U91).

NRMA spokesperson Bridget Ahern said that "historically", the price to fill up at the bowser in Sydney was lower, although this weekend the gap was larger than normal.

"Sydney operates in cycles and we were at the bottom, so over the weekend people were seeing prices at their lowest," she said.

"But now, we've just turned and are heading back to the top of the cycle."

Ms Ahern said that on average, prices in Sydney went down to the low $1.60s and high $1.50s in terms of averages, over the long weekend, while Orange was closer to $1.70.

She said there was a fairly simple explanation for the variance in price which saw some Western Sydney petrol stations as low as $1.49.

"The main drive behind this is the competition in Sydney. We have a huge number of petrol stations in Sydney, particularly in the west we find that there is a lot of competition and a lot of independent petrol stations willing to offer really good prices," Ms Ahern said.

"We see people drive through western Sydney and go 'wow, why are petrol prices so cheap'. It's just because there are a lot of competitive retailers out there."

She added that while places like Orange didn't see a huge fall over the weekend, it is also less likely to see a great rise any time soon.

"The good thing about living in somewhere like Orange, although you don't get prices that are quite as cheap as you can see in Sydney, you'll never get prices that are as expensive as when Sydney hits the top of its cycle," she said.

"Your average is nowhere near going to be near $1.80s anytime soon. Your average is at 169.6 cents and we're not expecting that to change anytime soon. We've actually seen some really good savings in Orange."

As of this week, the average petrol price around the region saw Dubbo at Dubbo at 169.4 cents per litre, Bathurst at 171.7c, Blayney at 174.1c and Mudgee at 178 cents.

"In terms of the reason why prices are significantly lower in Sydney generally is the competition. It is purely the fact that we know that the more independents there are in the market, the lowers the prices," Ms Ahern added.

"Orange does have a really good range of independents as well and that works in your favour.

"You are considerably cheaper in Orange than other places in regional NSW, simply because you have a good variety and good independence."

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