Rural Ambulance Victoria chief executive officer Doug Kimberley said the service had to carry the cost of rising prices.

"We cover eight million kilometres a year in Victoria, so it makes a difference," he said.

"The Mercedes Benz vehicles that we use at the moment are more fuel efficient than the trucks that were used in the past, but they still use more petrol than a typical car."

The model is increasingly being used in fleets across the state to replace earlier models. The RAV has a fleet of 478 vehicles across its Victorian stations.

Ballarat Federal MP Catherine King said the government should provide relief from escalating fuel costs.

"John Howard has had nine long years to come up with a plan to address petrol prices," she said.

"Australia is consuming oil three times faster than we are finding it and we already import 60 per cent of our domestic oil needs."

She said possible solutions could include growing an Australian liquid fuel market to reduce dependence on imports, provide a government fleet market for ethanol blends to help grow the industry and improve competition

regulations.

Ms King's comments come as petrol prices are tipped to hit $1.30 a litre next week.