CMA Issues Warnings to Fuel Retailers Over Pricing Practices
Regulator sends 1,166 warning letters and 53 compliance notices as profit margins remain high despite falling wholesale costs.
Carla Rooney
The Competition and Markets Authority has intensified its scrutiny of fuel retailers.
The CMA assessed the war's impact on fuel prices and margins, yet found no direct evidence of profiteering among fuel retailers.
Prices reportedly remained significantly higher than pre-conflict levels, even as overall costs at fuel pumps fell in June.
A 10p-a-litre crash in wholesale petrol during late July and early August has barely registered at the pump, the AA stated; the UK average price trickled down a mere 0.4p a litre in seven days.
Drivers currently pay around 161.29p per litre for petrol and an average of 181.84p per litre for diesel.
The CMA raised concerns in its latest update over ‘passive pricing strategies’ employed by most retailers, which it claims help maintain high profit margins.
Some petrol stations still fail to pass on wholesale price changes quickly enough, the CMA asserts.
The Fuel Finder price comparison scheme, established following a CMA recommendation in July 2023, now sees widespread adoption.
Approximately 97% of petrol stations are registered, accounting for about 99% of fuel sold across the UK.
The CMA has dispatched 1,166 letters to retailers and issued 53 compliance notices since April, warning against failures to register with the Government-run Fuel Finder scheme.
More than 1000 warning letters have reportedly gone to retailers failing to provide prices to the Fuel Finder service.
A grace period for retailers to register with the Fuel Finder scheme concluded at the end of April, mandating forecourts across the UK to report prices and fuel unavailability within 30 minutes of a change.
The Government and technology company VE3 operate the scheme.
Clearly, some fuel retailers are prepared to pass on lower costs promptly and help their customers. But many more, including large numbers of supermarkets, are not.
Some forecourts charged petrol at 10p a litre less than close rivals, the AA claims, while average prices do not reflect falls observed at the end of last month.
Sarah Cardell affirmed the CMA will continue to monitor prices and margins closely, expecting any wholesale price reductions to be "rapidly and fully passed on to drivers."
Cardell also noted the Fuel Finder scheme can help drivers save money when they fill up.