Plan to tackle rip-off at pumps with petrol price comparison site

Ministers are poised to order new action to tackle rip-off fuel with a price comparison site, as a watchdog raises concerns about competition in the sector. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to highlight the wide discrepancy in forecourt prices when it publishes its long-awaited report.

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps will back the idea of a new ‘Pump Watch’ site to give the public better information and allow the Government to monitor the sector. A Government source said Mr. Shapps was prepared to change the law to force the retailers to hand over real-time information about prices at every forecourt in the country.

‘Northern Ireland has a voluntary system, which has had some impact, but if the CMA recommends a comprehensive scheme then we may have to change the law,’ the source said. ‘At the moment there is no way to compel the retailers to hand over the data you would need, but we are prepared to change the law if necessary.’

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to highlight the wide discrepancy in forecourt prices when it publishes its long-awaited report

The report has been fast-tracked following a meeting last week between Jeremy Hunt and the regulators.

The Chancellor said he was ‘committed to getting a fair deal for motorists’. ‘I met with watchdogs this week to work out how to reduce everyday costs,’ he said. ‘They have my 100 percent backing to crack down on any unfair treatment.’

Ministers first ordered an inquiry into forecourt pricing last year following concern that a 5p cut in fuel duty was not being passed on in full. In an interim report in December, the CMA said that prices ‘vary widely between local areas’, adding; ‘Prices are likely to be higher at petrol stations where there are few (or no) competitors nearby.’

The watchdog also found that retailer margins were increasing, with forecourt operators pocketing 3-4p per liter more than they had five years previously. And the CMA said it had found ‘evidence of “rocket and feather” behavior emerging’ in the wake of the global energy crisis.

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps will back the idea of a new ‘Pump Watch’ site to give the public better information and allow the Government to monitor the sector

The report has been fast-tracked following a meeting last week between Jeremy Hunt and the regulators

The phrase refers to claims that garages push up costs to the public like a rocket when the global price of oil is rising, but let them fall more slowly like a feather when the global price recedes, pocketing the difference.

The report found that supermarkets tend to be the cheapest retailers but warned that ‘at least one supermarket has significantly increased its forward-looking margins’.

Fair Fuel UK, which has long campaigned for a ‘Pump Watch’ regulator, estimates that petrol prices remain 10p per liter higher than they should be, adding more than £5 to the cost of a typical tank of fuel.

The announcement is part of a wider move by ministers to ensure that falls in global prices are passed on to consumers.