Doesn't take long for our minds to adapt to the vicissitudes of petrol prices, does it?

But are we just being buttered up by the fuel companies for the return of the full fuel excise on September 28?

The former Morrison federal government in March cut the fuel excise for six months to make filling up the car cheaper. For petrol and diesel, the rates were reduced from 44.2c to 22.1c per litre.

So, in theory, petrol became about 22c cheaper.

The halving of the fuel excise is due to end just before midnight on September 28. And so, petrol prices will go up by 22c.

Did this little petrol price holiday help much? Prices did fall from the hellish heights of pre-March when a litre of petrol was looking to go beyond $2.50 a litre.

But then what? I don't know about you, but I don't remember petrol prices in Canberra budging from the near $2-a-litre mark until just a couple of weeks ago, when they started to drop to around the $1.85 range.

So are we just being softened for the blow of the return of the full excise? To be readied psychologically for the 22 cent increase. Maybe more accepting of $2 a litre than $2.20 a litre?

Well, in news that will surprise no one, the petrol companies aren't doing us any favours, strategy or not. Petrol prices in Canberra aren't coming down in line with falling oil prices and they are still too high, says the NRMA.

I actually think reducing the fuel excise - just before a federal election - was a bad idea. It saved us some cents at the bowser but cost millions in government revenue to pay for roads, schools, hospitals.

Cost of living pressures are real but how many of us aren't giving up the smokes, the grog, the Netflix subscription, the late-night online shopping to cope with it? Does saving a few dollars at the bowser justify the government revenue forgone? And cutting tax does little to help when petrol prices are really governed by good old supply and demand. And the dark arts of the petrol industry.

The NRMA's Peter Khoury said the average price of regular unleaded in Canberra last week was 187.9 cents per litre. The cheapest price was $1.68 a litre and the most expensive was $1.91 a litre.

READ MORE:

At the same time, the wholesale price was $1.54. Still a healthy margin of anything from14 cents a litre to 37 cents a litre.

Mr Khoury said petrol prices in Canberra had fallen nearly 30c a litre in the last five weeks. But that still wasn't enough, as oil prices had been falling since June.

"Canberra prices should be falling more than they are," he said.

Mr Khoury said Mogas 95, the benchmark export price for Australian fuel, was last week at $108 a barrel. At peak, Mogas was $164 a barrel. He said the only thing that could consistently produce falling petrol prices was falling oil prices and worldwide factors including Russia's war on Ukraine were affecting supply, but there were indications supply was on the rise.

The NRMA understood the pressure of rising costs on families and believed petrol price relief was needed, but cutting the tax excise wasn't the best way to achieve that.

"We've always said the only way we're going to get meaningful and sustained relief is if those oil prices continue to fall," he said.

The NRMA expects the Albanese government will re-apply the fuel excise in September. No surprises where it wants the revenue generated to go.

"The excise money needs to go back into roads," Mr Khoury said, adding the motoring lobby group particularly wanted the money spent on roads damaged by recent floods.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.