We published the final report of our road fuel market study in July. The market study found that competition in the retail sector for petrol and diesel had weakened since 2019, meaning that drivers were paying more for road fuel.
We made two recommendations to the UK government which have both been accepted:
- a new statutory fuel finder scheme, which would give drivers access to live fuel prices at forecourts. This should help people find the cheapest fuel and keep prices down.
- a new statutory monitoring body to hold the industry to account.
We believe that the best chance of positive change will be achieved when a permanent, mandatory and open access fuel finder scheme is put in place. The UK government has already confirmed it will take forward this recommendation.
In the meantime, the government asked the CMA to implement a temporary fuel price data scheme. We’re asking fuel retailers to provide up-to-date price data, which will be available to third-party developers. Consumers will then be able to use apps and websites to find fuel prices in their area.
Launching our temporary fuel prices data scheme
During July and August, the CMA worked with the largest fuel retailers and trade associations – representing a significant proportion of petrol and diesel sold in the UK – on a temporary data scheme.
While this scheme is a useful first step, it’s important there is a mandatory, permanent scheme in place as soon as possible, so drivers have access to real-time prices from all the fuel stations in the UK.
The permanent scheme will help ensure effective competition, which benefits consumers and businesses.
Who’s providing pricing data
The CMA website lists the retailers who have signed up to the scheme, with links to their pricing data. So far, several major fuel retailers, including Asda, Morrison’s, Sainsbury's and Tesco, have joined. You can see the full list of who has signed up on our website. The fuel retailers that have signed up so far account for approximately 35% of service stations throughout the UK and approximately 60% of the volume of fuel sold.
We're strongly encouraging more retailers to follow suit.
Find out more about our work on road fuel pricing
You can read more about the scheme on our road fuel price data scheme page. You can also find out more about the market study we completed this summer.
1 comment
Comment by Robin Austen posted on
This always supposes Internet is available. How up to date will the info be? Will it have all the fuel types? Are CMA going to limit price differences between super- petrol /diesel so we don't get lured in with cheap rubbish but pay through the nose for decent petrol?
Instead of making drivers use the Web, that they will undoubtedly do whilst driving .. esp on the motorway, how about putting smart signs up of upcoming 3 services. Like in France. We can all make informed decisions on the fly.
You could even use the gantry signs when they're not telling people they need to do paperwork to get to France- Halfway up the M6. Or instead of Gritting, on 3rd August, in London.