NSW government to launch real-time petrol price app

The New South Wales government and its data-driven innovation minister will be launching a beta version of Fuel Check next week, a smartphone app updating Sydney's petrol prices in real-time.

The New South Wales government will be launching a beta version of a new smartphone app next week, which will provide citizens with real-time updates on petrol prices across the state.

Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said his latest data-driven initiative, Fuel Check, is not only the first of its kind in the country, but the first of its kind in the world.

"It's a great example of using open data to empower -- if it's real-time, then we can make informed decisions right now," he said.

"As I'm driving between Sydney and Parramatta, I can see on my phone which petrol station I want to go to because it will say here is the cheapest E10 or here is the best price for premium, that is a great win for the community because it's basically information and information is power. It's empowering the consumer, which is a great thing."

Fuel Check will rely on petrol stations in the state sending their pricing schedule directly through to the department, but there is parliamentary backing to ensure the information is sent through in real-time.

"It's a pretty innocuous act; it just says Dominello now has the power to ask petrol stations to give us information," he said.

"In March this year, I did not have any visibility over petrol stations at all -- I was not getting any data. I asked the agency how many petrol stations there were and they said about 2,000. I said, 'What do you mean about? I'm the minister responsible, I should know exactly how many petrol stations there are'. They responded, 'Ah well, it's hard to get all the data'. So, that was it, I said we're going to change that, this is driving me nuts."

As the pricing data will be fed directly into a source that can be accessed by everyone in Australia, Dominello expects organisations such as the NRMA to create its own app on top of Fuel Check.