Having broken the $2 a litre barrier earlier this year, unleaded fuel plummeted when the federal government announced a cut in the fuel excise until the end of September.

It then rose again above the $2 a litre mark as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine continued.

However, there has since been a dramatic drop in global oil prices believed to have been caused by fears of a global recession, as well as a fall in Singapore benchmark and terminal gate prices where Australia gets most of its fuel from.

The fall has carried through to Bendigo petrol outlets.

Where some outlets had been selling unleaded petrol in June for as high as 219.9 cents a litre, motorists can now fill up for as low as 185.7 cents a litre.

Australian treasurer Jim Chalmers has taken aim at petrol companies not passing on wholesale price drops to consumers.

Dr Chalmers says he's been working with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor bad behaviour and retail price gouging.

"The service stations shouldn't be treating drivers as mugs," he told media outlets last week.

"People are absolutely filthy that when the international wholesale price goes up, the increases are passed on almost automatically and when the international price comes off a bit, it takes longer for the savings to be passed on."

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The cut to the petrol excise, which due to end in September, could not be continued forever due to the state of the budget, Dr Chalmers added.

"There are serious pressures on the budget; it would cost some billions to extend it even for another six months. And so we need to be up front about that and we need to be responsible about it," he told the ABC.

"What we're seeing now is the wholesale international price of petrol has come off a bit.

"We call on the service stations to pass those savings on because Australians should be getting that petrol price relief now and not just reliant on the program that runs out in September."

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