FUEL in WA is nearing the highest price ever recorded, meaning hip-pocket pain for families planning a spring school holiday road trip.

Data compiled by Consumer Protection’s FuelWatch service shows the average price for unleaded petrol in Perth spiked at 156.8 cents a litre at the top of the weekly price cycle on Wednesday.

That’s below the record petrol price so far this year of 159.8 cents a litre, set in May, and less than Perth’s all-time high for petrol of 160.6 cents a litre in July 2013. But experts say fuel prices are only heading higher and if the trend continues, records will tumble.

The high prices have prompted accusations of profit gouging by retailers, but servo owners insist they’re simply passing on higher costs as global prices rise.

This week’s peak of 156.8 cents a litre was 18.2 cents a litre more than on the most expensive day of the week 12 months ago.

That means, based on the average rate of fuel consumption in passenger vehicles, a return trip from Perth to Margaret River will cost families $12 more on fuel than this time last year. And for a Perth to Coral Bay family road trip vacation, families will pay $44.50 more on fuel than this time last year.

FuelWatch spokesman and Consumer Protection assistant manager of market analysis Ben Derecki said WA fuel prices were driven by the Singapore trading hub benchmark for unleaded petrol and “for a number of weeks the benchmark price has risen”.

“If the Singapore benchmark continues to increase then we would expect the price to continue to rise into school holidays,” Mr Derecki said.

“Uncertainty in crude oil markets has also added to this with US sanctions on Iran starting in November and production issues in Venezuela being two key areas.

“With the benchmark increasing, Perth prices have been trending up as well.”

Motorists who fill up on Tuesday or Wednesday face a double whammy of rising fuel prices combined with a peak in the weekly petrol price cycle, while Sundays and Mondays are the cheapest.

RAC’s vehicles and fuels manager Alex Forrest said the cost of motoring “continues to be a major concern for West Australians and fuel pricing is a key component of that”.

He said greater transparency on pricing was needed.

It comes as an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report found that profit margins added by petrol stations were at the highest recorded levels since monitoring began in 2002.

But the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACPMA), the peak body for petrol retailers, says retailers are merely passing on rising costs.

ACPMA blamed increases in the world oil price combined with increasing business costs in Australia, citing some servo owners whose electricity costs had doubled in 12 months.