Regulation governing the measurement of fuels dispensed on the service station forecourt has come into focus in recent times.
In late 2018, the Regulator responsible for ensuring that motorists are getting the volume of fuel that they are paying for at the pump – the National Measurement Institute (NMI) – advised that the number of non-compliant pumps had doubled from two years prior.
A subsequent regulatory blitz in Easter 2019, and enforcement actions conducted throughout the 2019 calendar year, revealed that the 2018 result was not simply a ‘blip’ but had been continued in the subsequent 12-months.
“At one level, we are talking about a relatively small number of non-compliant pumps across the national network,” ACAPMA CEO Mark McKenzie says.
“But at another level, motorists must be able to have confidence in the fact that the fuel that they are pumping into their tanks, which they cannot physically see or measure for themselves, is being dispensed accurately into their vehicles – or the entire reputation of the fuel industry is put at risk.”
Workshop to discuss issue
ACAPMA has been liaising with NMI over the past 18 months in an attempt to better understand the issue. These discussions have focussed on whether this problem is due to ageing infrastructure, a change of industry practice, problems associated with new equipment, or problems associated with calibration and certification processes.
“This is an issue that our industry needs to understand and respond to in order to maintain trust with the wider community that fuel volumes being sold at our service stations are accurate,” Mr McKenzie says.
To that end, ACAPMA is partnering with NMI to conduct an industry workshop to discuss the issue.
Workshop participants will first receive an update from senior representatives from NMI about their recent compliance findings and the nature of the issue as they currently see it.
The second part will comprise a roundtable conversation about current industry practices and the merits (or otherwise) of developing an industry best practice guideline for the periodic calibration and verification of petrol pumps in Australia.
The workshop will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel (The Rialto) in Melbourne on Thursday 5 March 2020.
Register to attend
Attendance at this workshop is free to ACAPMA members. For catering purposes, however, participants must register for attendance.
To register for this event please send an email to sarahh@acapma.com.au before COB on Friday 28 February 2020.
For further information visit acapmag.com.au/2020/02/regulator-workshop-on-pump-calibration-issues.
