A Cannington service station has been forced to advertise diesel at the most expensive price in the state after a minor typo in its FuelWatch submission was not corrected. Burk Fuel mistakenly entered a diesel price of $3.973 per liter instead of the intended $2.973 per liter on Monday.
The error was discovered later in the day, but the business was unable to correct it because the 2pm deadline set by FuelWatch had passed. Burk Fuel stated that despite the obvious mistake, FuelWatch strictly refused to allow any correction and instructed the station to sell diesel at the advertised error price.
To work around the issue, Burk Cannington offered diesel customers a discount of $1.04 at the checkout. The company expressed disappointment, calling the government system's rigid response unfair and not serving the public. Meanwhile, the station's unleaded petrol is the cheapest in Perth at $2.293 per liter.
A Consumer Protection spokesperson said the law prevents altering FuelWatch's 24-hour price lock, but commended the station for offering post-sale partial refunds. Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said the case could be reviewed by the Minister for Commerce, while Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas criticized the lack of common sense in the system.
