The proposed Fuelwatch scheme

Here is a link to a press release from the federal government about its proposed Fuelwatch scheme.

While I agree with increased information transparency for consumers about prices in the market, I wonder about the requirement that prices be fixed for 24 hours. I don’t know whether service station operators currently change their prices more than once a day, but even if they don’t, it is conceivable that a service station operator may want to change their prices during a day.

No doubt there are costs and benefits in all schemes like this - a key question is what the net benefit is and how the net benefits are distributed.