The AA and the owners of 33 million cars in the UK welcome the
CMA’s confirmation that pump pricing in this country is unfair
and the exploitation of motorists has got progressively worse.
For years, drivers have been convinced by daily watching of
forecourt price boards that pump prices shoot up when the cost of
oil and wholesale fuel rises but fall much more slowly when those
costs decline.
“The AA noted this behaviour as far back as 2005 when, following
Hurricane Katrina in the August, pump prices shot up 5p a litre
in matter of days but a 4p drop in wholesale costs soon after
took more than two months to be reflected at the pump,” says Luke
Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on pump prices.
“Sadly, it has taken more than 15 years for a government and
competition watchdog to recognise this and do something about it.
However, action that is better late than never is greatly
appreciated by motorists across the UK.”
The CMA’s recognition of the major pump price differences between
communities is hugely significant. Once again, concerns were
raised more than a decade ago when MPs complained of pump prices
in their towns being 3p higher than in towns just up the road.
That 3p difference became a 5p and then an 8p gap, and then a
more than 10p-a-litre chasm opened up between many communities
since the pandemic, with supermarkets obviously coming into the
firing line. However, there was nothing to stop non-supermarket
fuel stations seizing the opportunity to undercut those
supermarkets, but the majority chose to play along – except for
the occasional standout mavericks.
“Since the pandemic, this has become not just apparent but
blindingly obvious – exemplified by supermarkets over the past
year charging way more for fuel than many small independents. The
price difference of sometimes 10p or more for the same
supermarket fuel but in a neighbouring town was so blatant that
it has to be asked how the supermarkets ever expected to get away
with it,” says Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on pump prices.
The way forward is clear: pump price transparency, as shown by
the success and popularity of the Fuel Price Checker in Northern
Ireland (Fuel Price Checker - Tool |
Consumer Council). The AA has called for this type of price
tracking since investigating early schemes in Austria and Denmark
in 2012 – so successful in stimulating pump price competition
that they transformed those markets.
“A UK driver who travels to France this summer can view the cost
of petrol or diesel at fuel stations all the way along their
route (Prix des carburants en France,
site gouvernemental (prix-carburants.gouv.fr). Such is the
value of pump price transparency, the advances in road fuel
competition in Europe and the failure in the UK to do something
similar,” adds Bosdet.
“The push towards an ‘open data fuel finder scheme’ is therefore
a huge leap forward in fair pricing at the pump and needs to be
in place by the end of the year. Drivers will be drawn to the
cheaper fuel stations and that will pressure other forecourts to
bring down their prices, thus stimulating the level of
competition that has been missing for the past three years.
“A road fuel regulator will also be a big benefit but will take
time to set up. Drivers can ill afford to wait any longer for
effective pump-price competition, given that the summer getaway
is about to start and motorists must run the gauntlet of
over-priced motorway fuel. They will read stories of small
independent fuel stations charging rock-bottom prices for fuel
but find it very difficult to locate them on their holiday
routes. Pump price transparency will hopefully solve that.”
