A little more than a year after the Hunter's first COVID-19 lockdown coincided with the region's cheapest petrol in 15 years, prices are soaring despite the state government's stay-at-home orders bringing a drop in demand at bowsers.
NRMA says unleaded petrol prices in Newcastle and its surrounds have been about 10 cents per litre above the area's yearly average for the past four weeks.
Prices across the 139 service stations in the Newcastle area ranged from 132 cents per litre to 199 cents per litre in the week ending on Monday - according to the latest weekly figures available.
NRMA spokesperson John Macgowan said the watchdog's analysts believed prices in the Hunter were at the top of the cycle and that motorists could see a drop soon.
Mr Macgowan said fuel prices in regional NSW were low during last year's initial coronavirus lockdown because of global factors - many places around the world were in lockdown, which contributed to a worldwide drop in demand for oil and meant prices decreased.
But this time, Mr Macgowan said, the NSW lockdown has come at a time when many of those other nations have re-opened and allowed citizens to travel further distances by car, increasing the demand for oil and contributing to the rising cost of petrol in this state.
"The message we keep putting out is simply check the apps," he said.
"Especially in somewhere like Newcastle, which is a large regional centre, you can find a bargain. The challenge right now is you can't travel so if you need it, you're kind of stuck."
The Newcastle Herald reported in May 2020 that petrol prices in the Hunter had dropped below 90 cents per litre and were the lowest in the region since 2005.
But it is not just motorists feeling the sting of the pandemic.
Manisha Bhardwaj, the owner of independent Fennel Bay service station Lake Mac Petroleum, said the lockdown was affecting her business "big time" and trade was down about 40 per cent compared with this time last year.
She said she was in the throes of deciding whether to cut back opening hours in the evening in an attempt to reduce the pandemic's financial impact on her business.
