Petrol prices continued to rise this week and Kiwis have had enough.
Woodville pensioner Adrian van Niekerken says he’s trying to reduce his mileage to save money on fuel.
“I don't think that in Wellington they have an idea what's actually happening around the normal population, I think they're out of touch,” he said.
“If they are willing to do it, of course they can do something. I don’t think the will is there to do something.”
Prices observed by the public and recorded on fuel tracking application Gaspy shows, as of February 10, the average price for 91 petrol was $2.661, the average price for diesel was $1.889 and the average for 95 premium petrol was $2.827.
Global concerns over oil supply are contributing to the price hikes.
“That largely stems from the continued standoff between Russia and Ukraine and the concerns about what it means for the Russian supply of oil given that Russia supplies oil into the global oil markets,” NZ Institute of Economic Research principal economist Christina Leung said.
“Secondly the storms that have affected the US oil refineries.”
The cost of imported goods including fuel has also risen with the New Zealand dollar down in value, Leung said.
Energy Minister Megan Woods said she acknowledges the pressure on motorists.
She said law changes brought in last year have been successful in improving competition in the local market.
“We’ve seen the profits that the fuel companies have been collecting for each litre of petrol, we’ve seen those as high as 46 cents a litre in the past but that’s round to around 26 cents a litre now, so we’ve seen real change.”
In the lead up to the last election, the Government committed to not increasing fuel taxes during the current term.
Rising petrol prices are prompting some to make the switch to electric or hybrid vehicles.
“When we were probably looking around, now we are, we're going to try test drive a few in the next few days but as we say we're a bit worried about the availability,” prospective buyer Barbara Hehir said.
Honda Manawatū general manager Mick Duane said rising fuel costs is on the mind of those inquiring.
“People were looking originally at the hybrid and electric vehicle option helping the environment and all that and now it just seems to be money and what's the litres per hundred, what can I expect to get in my rear wheel driving, I'm spending this much every month on gas…”
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