Aussies being exploited at bowser, according to University of New England research University of New England professor Abbas Valadkhani says his research ould help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission prove we are being exploited at the bowser. Picture: Zoe Phillips Source: Herald Sun THE first "convincing evidence" has emerged that petrol stations manipulate prices to maximise profits. New research by University of New England professor of macroeconomics Abbas Valadkhani has found a quarter of servos put up prices as soon as fuel gets cheap but make "no effort whatsoever" to bring prices down when it's expensive compared to the long-term average. Professor Valadkhani told News Limited the findings could help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission prove we are being exploited at the bowser. "This study shows the ACCC where it needs to go do its job," he said. The research, published in the latest edition of the leading international journal Energy Economics, analyses more than five years of data and finds that in 28 of 111 locations nationwide, "when prices are conspicuously above the equilibrium path, retailers sluggishly lower their prices but when prices are substantially below the equilibrium values, the adjustment speed is significantly faster." Ten of the 28 are in Queensland: Brisbane Metro, Charters Towers, Emerald, Gladstone, Gold Coast, Goondiwindi, Longreach, Maryborough, Mt Isa and Roma. Eight of the 28 are in NSW: Broken Hill, Casino, Coffs Harbour, Cooma, Dubbo, Forster, Newcastle and Port Macquarie. Canberra Metro is also identified. Four of the 28 are in Victoria: Ararat, Benalla, Bendigo and Yarrawonga. Three of the 28 are in Tasmania: Burnie, Campbell Town and Hobart Metro. The only South Australian location among the 28 is Port Lincoln. The only location in the Northern Territory among the 28 is Tennant Creek. Prof Valadkhani said the ACCC should "closely observe" petrol pricing in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania, where sluggish lowering was most common, relative to the number of service stations. In particular, the competition watchdog needed to monitor servos supplied by terminals at Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, Gladstone and Hobart. "Based on these results, one can argue that there is convincing evidence for the existence of the adjustment asymmetry," Prof Valadkhani concluded. By identifying the locations in which asymmetric pricing is more prevalent, this paper can lead to the greater efficiency and transparency of the petrol market particularly in view of recent debates surrounding suspected profiteering in the petrol industry. The ACCC said it "welcomed" the research but would not be specific about whether the work would be used to give its monitoring greater focus. The Australian Institute of Petroleum - which represents BP, Caltex, Mobil and Shell - did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to deadline. Prof Valadkhani's research examined price variations from 2007 to 2012 and was funded by the Federal Government's Australian Research Council Discovery Project. Energy Economics is an "A-grade" journal, according to the Australian Business Deans Council. However, RMIT institutional economics professor Sinclair Davidson - who has previously criticised petrol price modelling by the ACCC - said there were assumptions in Prof Valadkhani's work which meant it could be "easily violated," including that the data used was weekly not daily. Prof Valadkhani acknowledged Prof Davidson's point, but said it was completely unrealistic to get daily data for every station in Australia. Applying Prof Davidson's standards, no-one would do any work on petrol, he said. Prof Valadkhani said his research had identified specific places the ACCC could undertake very detailed scrutiny using daily data.