We’ve known for some time that fuel retailers haven’t always played fair with prices at the pump. Not just intuitively based on the scattergun difference between petrol stations in the same area, but also because motoring groups like the AA and the RAC have repeatedly complained that the cheaper wholesale cost of petrol was not being passed on to customers. Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority came to basically the same conclusion after a 12-month study, blaming weaker competition for consistently fat margins among ‘traditional price leaders’.
With the overall rate of inflation a political hot potato for the government, it insisted back in the summer that something must be done about the disparity. Six months later it has started consulting with the industry on its proposed solution: specifically, new legislation to force retailers to share live information within 30 minutes of any price change at the pumps, thereby helping consumers to shop around for the best deal when they decide which forecourt to visit.
Dubbed ‘Pumpwatch’, the proposal might sound like something copied and pasted from a pop-up book of policies, but the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero says a similar statewide scheme in Queensland, Australia saw drivers save an average of nearly 50 quid a year. In the UK, the government reckons 3p a litre is plausible, assuming (unnamed) ‘tech companies’ are keen to plumb the information into commonly used mobile apps. Alongside greater transparency, the government is obviously also hoping that legally required price comparison data will ‘reignite competition’ in a sector too often found sitting on its hands.
It suggests there is some evidence of this already in play after twelve of the biggest retailers, including all four fuel-selling supermarkets, signed up to an interim voluntary scheme - although the falling price of crude oil in the meantime is likely at the root of the ‘lowest average price at the pump for two years’. Either way, at the end of last year the CMA was appointed as the road fuel market watchdog, and it will advise the government on any further action needed. But it begins with a two-month consultation process that invites the views of consumers and retailers alike. Have your say here. Or, as ever, below.
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