Government considers making pump price data freely available - RAC comment

Following reports the Government is considering a scheme whereby petrol stations would have to share live prices, potentially bringing more price transparency for drivers, RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams said:

“The Competition and Markets Authority is already investigating the way fuel retailing operates, so we hope its eventual recommendations to the Government result in better value at the pumps for drivers. An online fuel price checker that resembles those available to drivers in Germany where prices are displayed for individual forecourts in real-time could be helpful, but may not, on its own, lead to fairer prices. Certainly, we don’t think any UK-wide system should mimic what already exists in Northern Ireland where fuel prices are only updated once a week and there’s no indication of which forecourts are cheapest. One issue that often leads to widely varying prices locally, which badly needs addressing, is the fact major retailers operate regional pricing which can mean much higher prices where there is little or no competition.

“But perhaps the biggest issue of all is that pump prices don’t always mirror movements on the wholesale market, particularly when the latter is coming down, so arguably that’s where the Government’s focus should be. Only when this happens will drivers stop losing out, as there have been far too many occasions when wholesale prices have plummeted and pump prices have taken forever to drop.”