Petrol prices could be on the way up just in time for the school holidays - but it's not an attempt at price gouging, according to the NRMA.
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Peter Khoury from the motoring group said the Sydney market was at at the bottom of the price cycle and expected a sudden overnight surge of as much as 14 cents a litre for unleaded at some stage over the next few days.
Mr Khoury said prices in the Illawarra wouldn't rise so dramatically as the average price was already around seven cents higher than Sydney.
As of Wednesday afternoon the average price for regular unleaded in the Illawarra was 143 cents, though a Port Kembla service station was selling it as low as 132.6 cents.
Mr Khoury said the likely price rise - which could climb to as much as 150 cents a litre - will be far less "dramatic".
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But it could still be here in time for Easter, which isn't about petrol companies bumping their prices up just before a holiday.
As Mr Khoury pointed out, unleaded petrol was selling for just 116 cents a litre last Christmas.
"Christmas was good, the [price] cycle worked massively in our favour over Christmas," Mr Khoury said.
"The NRMA monitors the cycle all year round and not just into the holiday periods so we can tell if something untoward happens.
"While it did work in our favour at Christmas, it will work against us this Easter."
Motorists planning to drive off on holidays over the Easter period should use either the NRMA fuel app or the government's Fuel Check app and keep an eye on petrol prices.
"The app will be important to you this time at Easter because Wollongong's in the middle of a range of prices across NSW," he said.