‘Nothing’s changed’ at the pumps despite CMA investigation

The RAC has called for more action around fuel prices after saying that nothing has changed following an investigation into retail prices by the Competition and Markets Authority.

It found that retail margins were 16p per litre for petrol and 12p per litre for diesel. This compares to the long-term averages of 7p and 8p respectively.

This comes despite an investigation by the CMA in the summer concluding that the big four retailers overcharged drivers by 6p a litre in 2022, costing drivers around £900m.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Our analysis sadly shows that despite the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation confirming drivers were being ripped off at the pumps – something we have been saying for years – and the government acting on the findings, nothing has changed. Drivers are still losing out massively when wholesale prices come down.

“Our data shows the big four supermarkets’ margin on petrol has been around 14p this month compared to an average of 7p so far this year and, shockingly, this is up from just 3.4p for the whole of 2019.

“We badly need the government to set up the price monitoring body recommended by the CMA and for it to carry powers to take action against big retailers that don’t reflect downward movements in the wholesale market such as we’ve been experiencing in the last six weeks.”