PUMP GREED
Greedy fuel retailers ripped off drivers by £1.6billion in past year after bumping up profit margins
Forecourt retailers now make 6p a litre more in profits than they used to despite oil prices coming down
GREEDY fuel retailers have ripped off drivers by £1.6billion in the past year by bumping up their profit margins.
They have clobbered motorists with the biggest increase in pump profits since 2019, The Competition and Markets Authority told The Sun.
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The watchdog’s investigation has found since Asda’s takeover by private equity, the supermarket has become less competitive, weakening rivalry in the fuel market as other supermarkets let prices drift up.
Forecourt retailers now make 6p a litre more in profits than they used to and that has not changed in the past year, despite oil prices coming down from their record highs in the energy crisis.
Asda used to be the price leader on fuel but industry figures earlier this year showed it was no longer the cheapest.
Writing in The Sun, CMA boss Sarah Cardell said the total cost to drivers from the margin increases “was over £1.6billion in 2023 alone”.
READ MORE ON FUEL PRICES
The CMA found drivers could save £4.50 every time they filled up if they knew where to find the cheapest on offer.
The watchdog wants the Government to make petrol retailers share their live fuel pricing, which could then be shown on satnavs.
Ms Cardell also said media campaigns — such as The Sun’s Keep It Down — helped keep petrol retailers honest.
She said the CMA “observed significant drops in price” following our previous stories.
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By Sarah Cardell, CMA chief exec
EVERYONE has seen for themselves how much fuel prices have gone up over the past few years.
Most of that is down to higher oil prices. But since 2019, the margins retailers make on fuel have also been going up and are now significantly above historic levels.
The total cost to UK drivers from these margin increases was over £1.6billion in 2023 alone.
The best way of getting fuel margins down is by revitalising competition between retailers, so the consumer has the power to make choices.
We want to arm drivers with an easier way of finding cheap fuel in their area — by giving them access to live, station- by-station fuel prices on their mobile phone maps or satnavs.
This fuel finder scheme could save you up to £4.50 each time you fill up. We want to work with the new government to help make the scheme a reality.
That can be delivered by changing the law — so all fuel retailers are required to share live prices — backed up with new powers for the CMA to hold these retailers to account on your behalf.