New legislation to crack down on petrol stations who fail to comply with South Australia’s real-time fuel monitoring scheme is being introduced to state parliament.

The bill will significantly increase penalties for petrol stations who fail to update the price, or mark fuel as unavailable, within the 30-minute window.

The Fair Trading (Fuel Pricing Information Penalties) Amendment Bill will see expiation notices for breaches increase from $550 to $5000, while the maximum court-imposed penalty will increase from $10,000 to $20,000.

A Consumer and Business Services (CBS) compliance blitz across metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia last month saw more than 600 inspections conducted and 12 petrol stations fined.

Recruitment is underway for additional CBS inspectors, following the Government’s $1.2 million election promise to fund an additional 100 inspections each month.

Under the real-time fuel pricing information scheme, fuel retailers are required to report their prices and availability of fuel to a central database within 30 minutes of changing the price at the pump.

Drivers can then access free fuel price information via fuel price apps including the RAA app, which has both pricing and availability, as well as apps such as Petrol Spy, Motor Mouth, SA Bowser: Should I Fuel? and ServoTrack, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

The RAA estimates a typical SA driver using real-time fuel pricing is likely to save around $117 a year, based on typical fuel consumption, resulting in an annual total savings of approximately $58 million across the state.

Anyone who believes a service station is in breach can report it to Consumer and Business Services: www.cbs.sa.gov.au/fuel.