On Thursday, E10 reached 163.4 cents per litre at some Nowra service stations, and unfortunately there’s no signs of prices falling falling any time soon. 

According to NRMA’s Rebecca Page, prices are likely to be even higher by Christmas time. 

“This might be a Christmas to stay home and support local shops and businesses,” she said. 

“There’s not a lot of relief on the way.” 

Ms Page said the high prices were caused by the high global oil prices and the weak Australian dollar. 

“These are factors that we don’t have any control over but we do recommend people look locally to support servos that are keeping prices low,” she said. 

While prices had hit the $1.60 ceiling in Nowra on Thursday, the cheapest place for petrol was at East Nowra, at 147.9 cents a litre. 

According to the government’s Fuel Check site, in Ulladulla the cheapest price for E10 was 157.9 cents a litre, while the most expensive was 163.9 cents a litre. 

Ms Page said it paid to do your research before hitting the bowser. 

“What we’ve seen is that research can go a really long way,” she said. 

“There’s about 15 cents difference between the highest and lowest prices in the Shoalhaven so if you fill up at the cheapest servo, that’s a really significant saving.” 

The best thing motorists could do was look for “local solutions”, according to Ms Page. This included using the NRMA or NSW Government’s fuel app to check prices before they fill up.

“Before you get in the car, check what prices currently are, because you could be saving more than 15 cents a litre.”