Government ‘will not hesitate’ to ensure retailers give drivers fair fuel prices

Gas retailers have been threatened with state intervention over costs by the enterprise secretary, who urged firms “to take any steps vital” to make sure inexpensive costs for drivers.

In a letter to retailers on Thursday, Grant Shapps mentioned the federal government “won’t hesitate to behave to make sure competitors is wholesome and shoppers get a good deal on their gas.”

The Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) “will proceed to analyze the retail sector additional,” taking a look at “the connection between wholesale and retail gas costs,” the enterprise minister mentioned.

It was “regarding” to see the regulator had found “retail gas margins rising yr on yr over the previous 5 years forward of normal inflation,” Shapps mentioned.

There was additionally proof that “once in a while” the value of gas had “fallen extra slowly than it rises following adjustments within the value of crude oil.”

The competitors watchdog would additionally probe “components driving native and regional variations in costs, and the position performed by main supermarkets within the highway gas retail sector.”

Whereas costs of petrol and diesel have shot up for shoppers, there was no distinction in petrol wholesale prices paid by retailers and solely a modest rise for diesel, versus a yr in the past, in keeping with RAC figures.

Shoppers face an additional £4 common price to refill a full tank of petrol, at £84 whereas a median tank of diesel is now £15 costlier than a yr in the past, coming in at £97.

The RAC’s gas spokesperson Simon Williams welcomed Shapps’ intervention and mentioned it hopes the letter “results in some lengthy overdue decrease costs on grocery store forecourts which extra precisely replicate the autumn in the price of wholesale gas.”

There had beforehand been issues that the federal government’s reduce to gas obligation in March had not been handed on to shoppers, though Shapps mentioned on Thursday that he was “inspired” to see Brits had now felt the affect of financial savings.

A CMA spokesperson mentioned: “Following our pressing evaluation in the summertime, we at the moment are utilizing our obligatory information-gathering powers to probe all the highway gas market.

“We are going to proceed to collect proof to tell our work forward of our subsequent replace, which we’ll publish within the spring.”