Competition among fuel retailers is “failing consumers” because drivers are still paying too much to fill up, according to regulators.
In an update on its monitoring of the fuel market, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the cost to all motorists from the previously identified increase in retail fuel margins since 2019 was over £1.6bn in 2023 alone.
The watchdog, which found last year that drivers had overpaid in 2022, by £900m at supermarket fuel sites alone, said it was supportive of continuing efforts to secure a compulsory fuel price monitoring system to help consumers make informed choices.
It said that its temporary price data-sharing scheme was still only covering 40% of service stations.
The CMA added that it was not comprehensive enough to be utilised by map apps or sat-navs to bring accurate, live information to people.
The regulator’s third monitoring report follows long standing claims by motoring groups of fuel profiteering.
While supermarket chains used to use petrol and diesel as a means of attracting shoppers, that changed after the COVID pandemic when the retailers invested in the cost of household essentials instead as the cost of living crisis gathered pace.
Independent fuel retailers have long denied suggestions that prices are too high, insisting critics are taking no account of their own additional costs for things such as wages and electricity.
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