While a cap would most likely be politically popular, there is a fear that caps inhibit competition as companies push prices up to the limit. The terms of reference are yet to be finalised. But the Government can't just blame them. As the oil companies defended their pricing practices and profit margins, Professor Fels continued to attack them. He seized on reports that world oil prices were far lower than last year, while prices at the bowser hit a high this week.
Profit is essentially the gap between what they pay for crude and what they sell petrol for.
That margin, both globally and Australian, is very large at the moment. An ACCC spokesman said its investigations into the oil companies would include overall profit margins, not just the Anzac Day price spike.