The UK’s competition watchdog is proposing the implementation of a fuel price monitoring system in response to findings that drivers are paying higher prices for petrol and diesel due to a lack of competition among retailers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated on Monday that prices have increased since 2019 as traditional price leaders have chosen to compete less aggressively. In May, the CMA discovered evidence of retailers inflating petrol and diesel prices unnecessarily and indicated that it would engage with supermarkets, which have traditionally offered lower prices. According to the CMA’s study on the road fuel market, consumers are currently paying generally higher prices than they were four years ago, particularly for diesel, where competition has been significantly weaker than for petrol. The investigation by the watchdog lasted for a year and focused on fuel market margins, which reached record levels last year when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted commodity markets. The CMA also observed that consumers in different areas of the country are paying significantly varied fuel prices, and those without access to fuel cards face considerably higher costs when purchasing fuel on motorways. To address these concerns, the watchdog has suggested the introduction of an open-data fuel-finder scheme and a dedicated fuel monitoring function. If implemented, these two measures would complement each other and incentivize retailers to price their fuel more competitively.
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