Petrol prices have risen 7 cents a litre this week equalling a record high reached last year.

Prices rose 3 cents a litre on July 1 as the government's scheduled excise tax came into play.

Petrol prices rose 7 cents a litre this week – matching a record high of last year.

This was followed by a 4 cent per litre increase on Wednesday, July 3.

AA spokesperson Mark Stockdale says the price of 91 octane now matches the record high of August 2012, although diesel prices are still well below the July 2008 high of $1.92/litre.

Presently, 91 octane is sitting at $2.23, while 95 octane is $2.31. Diesel is currently $1.54.

He says raising pump prices so soon after the tax rise is not a good look for fuel companies. 'We also see no justification for a 4cpl increase.

'Commodity prices have barely changed in a fortnight, and although the NZ dollar fell through May and June, it has remained fairly steady at US$0.78 for the past fortnight.

'In other words, the imported cost of fuel has not risen recently, and importer margins (retail price less costs) are in the middle of the normal range.”

He says the imported cost of diesel fell slightly on July 2 so, if anything, diesel prices should be going down not up.

'We note margins were about 2cpl higher prior to the import cost increase that led to the last increase on June 7.”

He says since then, commodity prices and exchange rates have been stable.

'At worst, fuel companies could argue that prices needed to rise another 2cpl to restore those earlier margins (which were at the top of the range).

'But in the AA's view, not even a 2cpl price increase was justified, let alone the 4cpl rise on July 3.”

While other petrol outlets have already put prices up, Gull says it will be holding back its prices until after the weekend.

General manager Dave Badger says the price rise at this time isn't fair on customers.

'Customers are more likely to fill up towards the end of the week, after pay day, or on the weekend.

'We're in it for the Kiwi motorist and won't be raising prices until after the weekend.”