Motorists are being ripped off by fuel retailers – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Motorists are being ripped off by fuel retailers and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said they are “failing consumers” because they are paying sky high prices.

The CMA said in an update of their monitoring of fuel retailers that since 2019 there has been an increase in retail margins on petrol and diesel and in 2023 it was £1.6 billion.

The CMA said that in 2022 motorists were overpaid by a staggering £900 million at supermarket forecourts.

Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said, “Last year we found that competition in the road fuel market was failing consumers, and published proposals that would revitalise competition amongst fuel retailers.

“One year on and drivers are still paying too much.

“We want to work with government to put in place our recommendation of a real-time fuel finder scheme to kick-start competition among retailers.

“This will put the power in the hands of drivers who can compare fuel prices wherever they are, sparking greater competition.”

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said, “The report is, once again, confirmation of what we have known and been campaigning against for many years.

“Our analysis has long shown that even accounting for retailers’ increased operating costs, margins on fuel are at extremely questionable levels.”