Small business owners have slammed Canberra's stubbornly high fuel prices, saying they are being unfairly penalised simply because they live in the national capital.
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They have spoken out in submissions to the ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into fuel prices, which heard from international price monitoring company Informed Sources in its first public hearings on Thursday.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Consumer Affairs Minister Shane Rattenbury announced moves to establish the select committee last month, following a Sunday Canberra Times campaign.
They declared Canberrans were being "gouged at the pump" and said there had been no credible reasons put forward to explain disparities between the prices in Canberra and other parts of the country, including surrounding parts of NSW where petrol was cheaper despite there being little or no competition.
In her submission, Lisa Brown said she was a single mother and sole trader working as a delivery driver.
She said she spent about $650 a month on fuel, taking away about 20 per cent of her total income.
"If something was to be done about the fact that we are being ripped off it would help greatly," Ms Brown's submission said.
"Why should consumers struggle solely because they live in Canberra?
"It is unfair and something must be done to change it."
Jason Tankard, a Gungahlin resident who runs a graphic design business and also works in the health and nutrition industry, said in his submission he was disgusted by the disparity between fuel prices in Canberra and elsewhere.
Mr Tankard told the Sunday Canberra Times he and his wife needed a second car for business and family commitments, but they were unable to afford one because of the cost involved in running it.
He said he now used his motorcycle wherever possible to save on fuel and parking, while his wife and two young children caught the bus for the same reason.
"For people who are just trying to make their normal living or who need to use a car to do things like take their kids to school or go and do the shopping, those expenses really add up," Mr Tankard said.
"The cost of everything is going up, but the problem with the fuel prices is that crude oil prices are constantly going down, but the cost in Canberra isn’t.
"The cost in Canberra is stupid compared to other places, and that’s not right."
The select committee investigating Canberra's fuel prices, comprised of Labor's Tara Cheyne and the Liberals' Mark Parton and Andrew Wall, is required to provide its report to the Assembly by June.
On Thursday, representatives from international price monitoring company Informed Sources told the fuel prices inquiry's first public hearing a lack of cheaper petrol stations spread across the ACT, potentially higher use of fuel cards and a lack of sites for stations on major arterial roads may be pushing Canberra's fuel prices up.
More than 200 people and organisations have made submissions to the inquiry.
One resident who wrote to the select committee, Geoff Ross, said in his submission he had been a proud Canberran for 40 years, but fuel prices were "infuriating" and "lately it's difficult to find anything to be proud of".
"Low to mid income families are struggling with rising electricity and gas prices," Mr Ross wrote.
"Gas that is being sold overseas for next to nothing while we pay a fortune.
"Rental prices are the highest in the country, and then we get ripped blind with fuel prices for absolutely no reason."
The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission is conducting an analysis of fuel price factors and market competition alongside the Legislative Assembly probe.
