Why the ACCC Is Chasing the 70 Per Cent Fuel Surcharge

That little line item on your receipt, the one labelled "fuel levy" or "fuel surcharge" that you probably skim past without a second thought? Australia's competition watchdog has decided it wants a much closer look at it. And what it has found so far is raising eyebrows.

The ACCC has sent formal legal notices to a string of businesses across South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, demanding they justify the fuel surcharges they have been slapping on deliveries and services to remote and regional communities. These aren't polite letters either. They're called substantiation notices, and they carry legal weight. The businesses have three weeks to prove their sums add up, or they could be in serious bother.

Here's the number that got everyone's attention. Some of these surcharges have topped 70 per cent. Not 7 per cent. Seventy. Imposed on small businesses already paying through the nose to keep the lights on in some of the most isolated corners of the country.

The thing about a surcharge

Let's put this in perspective. A fuel surcharge is meant to do one job. When the cost of diesel or petrol climbs, a delivery company or a service provider passes a slice of that extra cost on to the customer rather than swallowing it whole. Fair enough. Trucking freight across the Nullarbor or up to a community in the Northern Territory burns a lot of fuel, and nobody seriously expects an operator to absorb a genuine spike out of goodwill.

The problem the ACCC is circling is the gap between what fuel actually costs and what some businesses are charging customers to cover it. When a surcharge runs to 70 per cent of a bill, the maths starts looking less like cost recovery and more like a tidy margin dressed up in the language of necessity.

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb put it plainly. If a business is going to impose a surcharge, the business must be able to substantiate it. In other words, show your working. The watchdog has noticed a spike in complaints from consumers and small operators, and these surcharges aren't confined to fuel tankers either. They've been popping up on the bills of urban cafes, restaurants and travel companies too. The fuel levy has quietly become one of the most fashionable add-ons in Australian commerce.

Why now

The timing isn't an accident. Earlier this year a flare up in the Middle East sent crude oil and refined fuel benchmarks lurching around, and prices at the bowser followed. That kind of volatility is exactly the cover a dodgy surcharge needs. When everyone reads headlines about oil shocks, a 70 per cent fuel levy on a delivery doesn't trigger the same suspicion it would in a calm market. The ACCC knows this, which is why it has stepped up its scrutiny precisely when motorists and businesses are most rattled.

It helps to know the watchdog now has sharper teeth. Maximum penalties for misleading conduct have jumped from 50 million dollars to 100 million dollars. That is not a typo, and it is not a number any board takes lightly. ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey did not mince words on the broader pricing question, warning that the regulator will take action against any case of misleading consumers about the reason for steep price increases. The petrol industry, she said, should be under no illusions.

The regulator also locked in five more years of formal fuel monitoring from the start of 2026, and it is publishing weekly price reports right through to the end of September. So this isn't a one off blitz. It's a settled posture. The ACCC has decided fuel is a permanent watching brief, and surcharges are now part of that beat.

What the Mobil case tells us

If you want to know whether the watchdog actually follows through, look at what happened in February. The Federal Court ordered Mobil Oil Australia to pay 16 million dollars in penalties for making false or misleading representations about the fuel sold at nine petrol stations in north and central Queensland. That wasn't a slap on the wrist. It was a clear signal that the courts will back the regulator when it goes after fuel sector conduct, and it landed only a few months before these surcharge notices went out.

Here's the fascinating backstory most people miss. The ACCC has been monitoring petrol in some form for decades, and historically its biggest frustration has been proving intent in a market where prices move for a hundred legitimate reasons. Surcharges change that game entirely. A surcharge is a specific claim. The business is telling you, in writing, that this extra charge exists because of fuel costs. That is far easier to test than a murky accusation of price gouging at the pump. Either the costs justify the charge or they don't. It is a smart place for the regulator to apply pressure, because the evidence is sitting right there on the invoice.

What it means for your wallet

So what does any of this mean for you next time you fill up or pay a delivery bill? A few practical things.

First, surcharges are not the same as the pump price, and the rules around them are different. The price on the diesel prices board at your local servo is what it is, set by competition and the daily cycle. A surcharge added by a courier, a tradie or a regional supplier is a separate claim that now has to stand up to scrutiny. If one looks wildly out of step with what fuel actually costs, you are within your rights to question it, and the ACCC genuinely wants to hear about it.

Second, this matters most if you live or run a business outside the big cities. Remote and regional Australians already pay more for fuel. Folks in Western Australia, outback South Australia and the Darwin end of the Territory know the pain better than anyone. A 70 per cent surcharge stacked on top of already steep freight costs is the difference between a viable small business and one that quietly folds. The watchdog leaning in here is a genuine win for the bush.

Third, keep your receipts and read the fine print. The single most useful thing a motorist or small operator can do is notice the charge in the first place. Compare it against what fuel is actually doing. Tracking the price trends over a few weeks gives you a baseline, so when a supplier claims their costs have soared you can sense check whether the market backs them up. Knowledge is leverage.

The bigger picture

There's a reason this story matters beyond the dollars. For years the conversation about fuel fairness has fixated on the pump, on whether the servo down the road is gouging you by a few cents. That fight is hard to win because retail margins are thin and the cycle is genuinely complex. Surcharges are a different beast. They are where the real money can hide, bundled into freight, services and deliveries where nobody thinks to look.

The upshot is simple. The ACCC has found a smarter target, it has bigger penalties to swing, and it has shown with Mobil that it will go all the way to court. For the businesses dressing up a fat margin as a fuel levy, the free ride is ending. For the rest of us, it is one more reason to actually read the receipt.

The fuel levy has spent years as the line nobody reads. That is exactly why it is worth a second glance now. Keep an eye on this space.