Petrol price data in real-time ... will be available to consumers. Picture:Peter Clark

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced it has reached agreement with petrol price information service Informed Sources and the four major petrol retailers.

The new deal means that consumers will get access to real-time data for the first time.

The data, which was previously exclusive to the retailers, gave them information on petrol price moves within 15-30 minutes of when they occur through a petrol price information service known as Informed Sources.

Informed Sources will now make the data available to consumers for free and to third parties on commercial terms.

The ACCC alleged that the price information exchange service in its current form allowed retailers to communicate with each other about their prices, and had the effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition for the sale of petrol in Melbourne.

In a statement today, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the new deal should make it easier for all Australian consumers to decide where and when to buy petrol.

“I welcome and appreciate the decision of Informed Sources and the petrol retailers to make the pricing information available to consumers at the same time the retailers receive it,” he said.

“This will help consumers make better and more informed decisions about where and when to buy petrol by helping them identify the best time to buy and the sites with the lowest price.”

“The ACCC believes that greater transparency of petrol prices and the behaviour of petrol retailers across Australia will reduce the potential for any adverse effect of the Informed Sources service on competition,” Mr Sims also said.

In making the data available to motoring, and research organisations, Mr Sims said it should also improve competition among the petrol retailers.

BP, Caltex, Woolworths, and 7-Eleven have agreed that they will not enter into or give effect to any price information exchange service unless the information each receives is made available to consumers and third party organisations at the same time.

Informed Sources has agreed that it will not supply the information exchange service unless the pricing information it provides to petrol retailers is made available to consumers for free and to third parties on reasonable commercial terms at the same time.

The parties have agreed to allow the petrol pricing information to be made available to consumers and third party organisations for a period of five years commencing by mid-2016.

The deal comes after the ACCC reached a settlement with Coles Express recently, where it agreed to stop using the Informed Sources service once its current contract expired next year.