With unleaded petrol hitting prices greater than two-dollars a litre, new research by South Australia’s peak motoring body has reaffirmed the value of the State Government’s real time petrol pricing initiative.

Research from the RAA has shown that more South Australian motorists are using real time petrol price monitoring apps, with an estimated $55 million in total saved by motorists every year by using petrol price monitoring apps to shop around.

The findings come as compliance officers from consumer watchdog Consumer and Business Services embark on a fresh service station compliance blitz targeting service stations in both metropolitan and regional areas.

Over the next four days, inspectors will be checking more than 200 service stations around metropolitan Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills, Eyre Peninsula, Riverland, Limestone Coast and Yorke Peninsula.

Penalties apply for petrol stations that fail to update the price, or mark fuel as unavailable, within the required 30-minute window.

Since the conflict in the Middle East began, staff from CBS have issued 29 compliance notices, with penalties totalling nearly $19,000, to service stations for allegedly failing to comply with the requirements of the real time petrol price monitoring scheme.

Since March,1500 inspections and nearly $20,000 in expiations have been issued to petrol stations across the state with 15 being regional and 14 in the metro area.

This includes:

Expiation notices for breaches increased in July from $550 to $5000, while the maximum court-imposed penalty has increased from $10,000 to $20,000.

For more information on real time petrol price monitoring, visit www.cbs.sa.gov.au/fuel.