Editorial. We are being screwed.

In looking at the price of petrol in the Southern Lakes and Central Otago one thing becomes clear. We are being screwed.

If you are in any doubt about that claim here's one simple piece of evidence from the Automobile Association.

AA data shows only 2% of the petrol price is shipping.

The cost of transport has long been used as a justification for the high price of fuel in the Southern Lakes and Central Otago. If the AA data is correct then national fuel transportation costs could easily be absorbed into an average and we'd be paying the same as people in every other part of the country and it would be around the $2.30 mark.