{"id":331850,"date":"2026-03-16T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T06:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331850\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T06:00:08","slug":"hawkes-bay-drivers-feeling-the-pinch-at-the-pump-from-iran-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331850\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawke\u2019s Bay drivers feeling the pinch at the pump from Iran conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Others have taken to buying extra fuel supplies, filling up jerry cans<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Monday, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis said fuel orders were secure<\/a>, and the country had 57 days of petrol and 49 days of diesel in stock.<\/p>\n

Hawke\u2019s Bay Today spoke to Napier and Hastings drivers about the impact, with prices for 91 octane across the twin cities on Monday ranging from $2.87 \u2013 with a discount receipt \u2013 to $3.15 a litre.<\/p>\n

Dimi Desilva at Gull Mayfair on Karamu Rd said she was fuelling up more often, due to fears the prices would increase further.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancially, it is a huge hit because it\u2019s money that has been allocated for other things, now used so that we can travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a bit stressed and knowing that prices are increasing weekly, daily … I\u2019m trying to top up as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HastingsHastings driver Stephanie Hutchinson said the increase left her feeling worried. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n

Across the forecourt was Stephanie Hutchinson, who said she felt \u201canxious\u201d about the price increases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cost me $55 to fill half a tank, where normally it might cost me $75 to fill the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder, when will this stop?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DriverDriver Ross Alexander at Pak’nSave Napier petrol station. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n

In Napier, Ross Alexander said he chose to fuel up on days he could get the most discount.<\/p>\n

He fuelled his vehicle at Pak\u2018nSave on Monday, using the six-cent store discount. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not much I can do about it, especially with the conflict going on in the Middle East, but any increases, it was always difficult to swallow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NapierNapier driver Chichi Yeh fills up her car at Z Mataruahou. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n

At Z Mataruahou in Napier, Chichi Yeh said she felt uncertain about the higher price and had to adjust her financial plan and social life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary, we don\u2019t know what is going on in the future and for my job, I can\u2019t work at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need fuel to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willis, the Finance Minister, said on Monday that New Zealand had \u201cnormal levels of stock [fuel] in the country and on the water\u201d and the rise in cost was \u201cunavoidable\u201d.<\/p>\n

As it stands, petrol prices have risen by 45-50 cents a litre, adding about $23 to the cost of filling an average car, while diesel has risen by 72 cents a litre, adding about $36 to the cost of filling an average diesel vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m advised as of yesterday [Sunday], 13 vessels were safely on their way here, with a further three safely scheduled to depart,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n

She acknowledged the price increase and additional pressure on the cost of living, but said the current prices were \u201cslightly below\u201d the 2022 price peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is reasonable to assume they could go higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willis said financial support for households was not a measure needed yet and any support would be targeted, timely and temporary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Others have taken to buying extra fuel supplies, filling up jerry cans. On Monday, Minister of Finance Nicola…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1975,1561,138,6150,5981,15211,158238,15313,71,2678,1976,16609,25907,6187,111,139,69,113167,32257,28830,44697,1072,8262,223,165,8229,21419],"class_list":["post-331850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-at","tag-bay","tag-business","tag-conflict","tag-daily","tag-drivers","tag-extent","tag-feeling","tag-from","tag-fuel","tag-hawkes","tag-iran","tag-litre","tag-lives","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pinch","tag-pump","tag-rethinking","tag-soars","tag-social","tag-spending","tag-the","tag-their","tag-they","tag-towards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}