The town is among several regional hubs benefiting from the holiday season’s petrol price plunge which saw Melbourne record its lowest fuel costs for 2018.
However, not all regional towns have been as fortunate, with Echuca and Cobram among those still being bled dry at the bowser.
At the time of writing, motormouth.com.au had the average price of petrol in Seymour at 113.9 cents per litre (CPL).
Shepparton and Bendigo enjoyed similar low costs at 120.1 and 118.1 respectively.
While the average in metropolitan areas was 115.3CPL, with several stations on the outskirts of Melbourne hovering around the 110CPL mark.
But this marks a stark contrast to average prices in Echuca (143.9), Kyabram (141.5) and Cobram (137.8).
This disparity has left residents in these embattled neighbouring towns outraged.
RACV said the discrepancy between regional and metropolitan prices was due to the contrast between the fuel price cycle in the city and ‘‘sticky pricing’’ in regional towns.
While competing fuel stations’ attempts to undercut each other can see Melbourne prices plunge, RACV said this fluctuation tended not to affect regional areas.
But this did little to explain recent inequality between prices in regional towns such as Seymour and Echuca.
‘‘The price cycle is ... driven by competing fuel stations attempting to undercut each other in order to sell more petrol,’’ RACV vehicle engineering manager Michael Case said.
‘‘When this discounting reaches an unsustainable level where profit margins are very low or even running at a loss, the fuel price gets driven back up again by some of the retailers.
‘‘Wholesale pricing has little effect on the short term of the petrol price cycle, primarily affecting the peaks and troughs which can be seen when analysing the long-term trends.
‘‘(In most regional towns across Victoria) prices remain consistent for extended periods regardless of Melbourne fuel price cycle trends or wholesale prices.
‘‘Overall, regional towns tend to respond slower to changes in wholesale prices.
‘‘Reduced competition and lower sales volumes compared to metropolitan Melbourne may contribute to the slower price movements and absence of cyclic behaviour in regional areas.’’
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