Fuel costs have "ripped off" drivers, according to watchdog

The UK's competition watchdog has warned that petrol costs are still too high, costing drivers £1.6 billion last year alone.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that drivers' pockets are being impacted by the reduced competition in the gasoline industry.

It was discovered that since 2019, the profit margins of supermarkets—that is, the gap between the amount they pay drivers and the price they buy fuel at—had increased.

According to the firm, retailers are already charging drivers twice as much as they did in 2019.

When the CMA started looking into the road gasoline market last year, it offered a number of suggestions to assist drivers in lowering the cost of filling up their tanks.

One of these involved putting up a fuel finding program that would enable drivers to use map applications and sat-navs to locate the cheapest fuel in their area.

According to the CMA, the programme may save motorists up to £4.50 every time they fill up.

Currently, a handful of significant merchants participate in the voluntary pricing data exchange program, but the CMA has urged the government to implement a mandatory system.

Based on data from the watchdog, supermarkets made a 4.4% profit margin on petrol in 2019; that margin has since almost quadrupled to 8%.

Five years ago, non-supermarket gas stations had a 6.8% margin. Now, it stands at 8.5%.

CMA added that previous years have seen reasonably competitive gasoline prices due to the reduced pricing set by supermarkets like Asda and, to a lesser extent, Morrisons.

(Sources: bbc.co.uk)