The RACT sent out its e-newsletter at 3pm yesterday afternoon, and had received 517 signatures to their online petition – which calls on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate fuel pricing in Tasmania – within two hours.

About 40 submissions were made in the five minutes before 5pm.

Mr Moody said he expected that the number of signatures to the petition would grow significantly over the weekend.

‘‘We’re not reasonably expecting that we would see (mainland) prices, but at $1.05 per litre as a wholesale price, you would expect that we should be paying less than $1.20 at the moment,’’ he said,

‘‘I know that fuel at Scamander is $1.19. I don’t understand why you can sell fuel for $1.19 in Scamander, and you can’t get anywhere near that in Hobart or Launceston or Burnie or Devonport.’’

The wholesale price in Hobart for unleaded petrol was 105.7 cents yesterday, while the average cost of retail petrol in Launceston yesterday was 125.2 cent, meaning retailers were charging a margin of close to 20 cents a litre.

The ACCC will notify the three towns that will be part of their fuel price investigation in March.

Mr Moody said if a Tasmanian town was not included on the list there were not many other options available.

‘‘The ACCC are the only people really with the power at this point to investigate deeply into fuel prices,’’ he said.

Treasurer Peter Gutwein distanced the government from the prospect of intervention if the ACCC decides not to investigate in Tasmania.

‘‘The last time the government tried to regulate fuel sales was back in the days of the infamous fuel rostering system, which was abandoned for good reason, because government intervention limited choice and the competition needed to reduce prices,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s not good enough that Tasmanians are paying more than people on the mainland and we will continue to make that point to the ACCC.’’

The petition can be signed at www.ract.com.au.