An expected fuel price rise after the end of a national tax relief is leaving a city service station worried about the stress of panic buying on their business.
The federal government's fuel excise cut is set to expire with consumers likely paying an extra 25c per litre or more to fill up from September 29.
Warrnambool APCO service station director Peter Anderson said he was concerned about the rush of last-minute buyers before the cost reduction expires causing a strain on short-term supply.
"It'll create panic buying. There'll be an influx of people trying to fuel up a few days before it," he said.
"If panic buying starts... there'll be service stations running out of fuel because they can't physically [transport] it up quick enough."
Mr Anderson said consumers planning to stock up should do so appropriately and well before the excise cut ends.
"If people want to fill up containers, now's the time to do it, but I recommend that they only take in Australian standards," he said.
But he said he wasn't anticipating a large customer backlash against the price hike.
"Once the excise goes on and the price flows through, it'll just even out," he said.
"We've all seen 20c increases in the past, it's not unusual."
According to Australian Institute of Petroleum data, Warrnambool's weekly average for unleaded petrol price was 179.8c per litre as of September 18. The regional Victorian average price was 164.2c per litre.
The weekly average for diesel was 206.2c per litre for regional Victoria in the same period.
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NRMA spokesperson Bridget Ahern said consumers should not being seeing the extra 25c per litre come into effect immediately after the reduction expiry date.
"We anticipate most petrol stations have fuel in their tanks at the moment and will have that when the excise reduction expires," she said.
"They need to sell off that cheaper fuel first before they start charging the higher amount.
"We'd be expecting anywhere between five to 10 days for those prices to follow through."
Ms Ahern said NRMA would be helping consumer watchdogs to keep an eye on retail fuel price rises.
"We don't expect any price gouging will be happening, but we will be monitoring it," she said.
"[Fuel stations] shouldn't be upping their prices until they've purchased more wholesale fuel."
"It was good to see that last time when the excise was temporarily reduced back in March, we did see those discounts flow through in the appropriate amount of time."
Ms Ahern called for a reform of the fuel tax system saying her association would be pushing for a road user charge model which taxes drivers based on distance travelled and incorporates other road charges including registration and stamp duty.
"As we are moving towards not only more people purchasing EVs but also much more fuel economic vehicles coming into the market... the fuel excise is becoming antiquated," she said.
"At the moment people pay rego in their state, stamp duty in their state, and then a fuel excise federally.
"It needs to be a simpler system that takes into account everything and makes it more streamlined for everyone involved."
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