The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has set out plans to
step up monitoring of petrol and diesel prices.
Firms responsible for thousands of fuel stations across the
country have today been put on notice that formal requirements to
supply revenue, costs and sales data will be brought forward.
This will accelerate the CMA's review of fuel margins made by
businesses since the conflict began.
When the data is available, the CMA will also consider how
quickly fuel prices rise and fall as wholesale costs change, and
whether there is evidence of so-called “rocket and feather”
pricing.
The CMA recognises that businesses across the economy are likely
to face significant pressures from rising energy costs which may
impact prices. However, fuel stations should not exploit the
situation – any evidence of this will be made clear in the CMA's
update on pricing, which will be published as soon as possible.
Juliette Enser, Executive Director for Markets, said:
Whilst price increases might be inevitable because of rising
wholesale costs, it is important that those increases
reflect genuine cost pressures.
We will be closely scrutinising and reporting on what's
happening with fuel prices and call out any concerning
behaviour.
For the avoidance of doubt, the CMA does not set or approve
retailers' fuel prices.
Notes to editors:
- The information needed to conduct a thorough profitability
analysis is not publicly available and must be obtained via
formal information notices the CMA issues as part of its
monitoring role of the road fuel market. The CMA is today
announcing plans to accelerate its analysis of recent trends and
bring forward its reporting on the current period to as soon as
possible.
- In the CMA's regular reporting, it assesses retail spreads to
look at the average price that drivers pay at the pump compared
to the benchmarked price that retailers buy fuel at and analyses
fuel margins to compare the difference between what retailers
pays for fuel and sells it at.
- While retail spread analysis can give a quick overview of
trends in the sector, it is a less reliable indicator of
competitive intensity than individual retailers' fuel margins
which provides a clear breakdown of profits made by fuel
stations.
