Whittlesea councillor Ken Harris has stepped up his campaign to stop petrol stations “ripping off” consumers at the bowser.
Cr Harris, 70, who owned an independent service station in Reservoir for 24 years, said petrol station operators were cheating consumers by selling overheated fuel.
Fuel is sold to petrol stations from refineries at an agreed standard temperature of 15 degrees.
Cr Harris explained that when the fuel heats up, its volume expands and distorts the measure at the pump, and the price paid.
“When the consumer buys fuel from the service station, they are paying for an expanded fuel, which is not an accurate litre measurement.”
According to Cr Harris’s estimations, fuel is usually delivered to petrol stations at about 36 degrees.
Environment Protection Authority laws introduced in 2003 require petrol to be stored in double-walled tanks, which means it takes longer for fuel to cool down.
Mr Harris wants the federal government to amend the oil code legislation to force major oil companies and service station operators to correct the measurement of fuel at the pump to the 15-degree standard.
“I’m doing this because the public is being ripped off,” Cr Harris said.
He is currently in talks with the National Measurement Institute (NMI), Australia’s peak body for biological, chemical, legal, physical and trade measurements.
The South Morang resident was asked by NMI to draft a letter requesting the legislative change and include details of his research into the issue.
His meeting with the NMI was facilitated by McEwan MP Rob Mitchell, who met with Cr Harris last October.
Mr Mitchell then passed on Cr Harris’s research to federal Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane.
Cr Harris said all that was needed to protect consumers at the pump was an inexpensive electronic chip, which would automatically adjust the price at the pump according to the temperature of the fuel.
