Competition watchdogs have been called in to conduct an urgent review of the fuel market over ministers’ concerns about “predatory pricing.”
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), who will probe the industry following concerns drivers aren’t getting a fair deal.
The watchdog has been instructed to look specifically at the health of competition in the market - and whether Rishi Sunak ’s £5billion fuel duty cut is being passed on to consumers.
They’ll also probe the reasons for local price variations.
Variations in price at fuel forecourts in different parts of the country also remains a concern for many motorists, with often wild fluctuations between similar nearby stations over only short distances.
In his letter to CMA chief exec Andrea Coscelli, Mr Kwarteng wrote: “The British people are rightly frustrated that the £5billion package does not always appear to have been passed through to forecourt prices and that in some towns, prices remain higher than in smaller, nearby towns.”
An initial report is expected to be received by 7 July.
A Whitehall source added: “We’re trying to keep as much of people’s hard-earned money in their back pocket as possible, but it’s frustrating that our £5 billion fuel tax cut doesn’t seem to have been passed on everywhere - with prices always quick to go up but slow to come down.
"No one understands why the price for their fuel can be as much at 10p a litre dearer at the forecourt a village over, so we want drivers to be completely certain that the fuel retailers aren’t profiteering at their expense.”
