MOTORISTS are now able to fill up for under $1 a litre after an "artificial" spike in petrol prices last week.
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NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said the average price for petrol leading into race week was 128 cents per litre, and it has now come down to 117.5 cents per litre.
While the average has fallen, he said there was a spike that coincided with the Bathurst 1000.
"It certainly coincides with that time and that is worrying. I don't have the evidence to say it was because of it, but the timing certainly related," Mr Khoury said.
"It's artificial, there's no reason for [the spike], there was no justification for it, it only happened in Bathurst, and that sort of behaviour is why people get so frustrated with oil companies."
Based on the wholesale price of fuel, Mr Khoury said it should be possible for retailers to start pricing unleaded at around $1 per litre.
"The average won't get to that, but what we want to see is the average fall further, and the fact that you've got at least one service station offering really competitive prices means that the others should be able to do the same," Mr Khoury said.
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On October 15, the United petrol station was one of two retailers in Bathurst to offer unleaded for 118.9 cents per litre, the cheapest at the time.
On Friday, eight days later, the price was down to 99.9 cents per litre at the United.
A spokesperson for the retailer said the prices were set by head office, but said they were happy to be able to bring the prices down over the last week.
They also expressed a commitment to offering Bathurst the best prices.
"We always are top on the prices because we don't want the competition in the town. That's how we compete with the price in town and we're always the cheapest in town," they said.
Other Bathurst retailers brought their prices down as well, but couldn't quite reach the lows of the United.
The closest was Pearl Energy, which has also expressed a commitment to being the cheapest in Bathurst before.
The retailer on the corner of William and Keppel streets was offering unleaded for 103.9 cents per litre.
Three others were offering 109.9 cents per litre, one was a little higher at 111.9 cents per litre, and four were still offering unleaded for in excess of 120 cents per litre.
Diesel prices were just as varied on Friday, but both the United and Pearl Energy had this fuel variety priced at under $1.
