Forecourt operators will likely pass on the cost of complying with the forthcoming Fuel Finder scheme, inflating fuel prices at the pump rather than its aim of reducing them, warned panellists on a session about the government’s plans at yesterday’s APEA Live.
And, they added, rather than giving greater transparency and trust for the end user, forecourts being required to report fuel prices within 30 minutes of making a change, will lead to confusion for motorists.
The government originally planned to introduce Fuel Finder by the end of the year, to give greater price transparency to consumers, increase fuel retailer competition, and ultimately to bring down prices for the consumer.
But now the operational date has been quietly pushed back to February 2. Retailers will be required to sign-up to the scheme by then, with registrations opening on December 18.
The idea is that the data – which will also include information on other site services – is collected by the government appointed central aggregator VE3 Global to share via motoring apps with the end consumer. Forecourt operators not complying will face the prospect of hefty fines, including up to 5% of an operator’s turnover.
But the owner of motoring app PetrolPrices said at the event that even if operators are ready by the February deadline, publishers of the data have not been provided with what they need to be able to share that information, less than 12 weeks away from launch.
“The scheme might be live then, and that’s optimistic, so the retailers might be compliant, but the publishers of the data might not be ready to actually present it to anyone because there is a disconnect there,” warned Clare Lafferty, sales director of myAutomate, responsible for the PetrolPrices app. “For anyone who has been close to this, it is evident that VE3 does not know enough about the industry,” Lafferty warned.
She also pointed out that the initiative is very likely to increase costs for the consumer. “If plotting prices on a map was going to reduce prices it would have done so when PetrolPrices started in 2005,” she asserted.
“For some retailers, probably all, depending on how they decide to comply, there is a cost associated to doing this which will inevitably flow through to the consumer because if you have to pay more to be compliant you are not doing that for the fun of it.” She added: “The cost to be compliant will flow through and it will be the absolute opposite of why the scheme is supposed to be there.”
Greenergy’s head of independent retail Paul Clegg told the group that “it all feels very last minute”, and he questioned whether the detail of the scheme had been thought through. “I feel that it is a monumental waste of taxpayers’ money,” he told the conference.
“I’m not entirely sure it will solve anything. I think it has been created to address a problem that doesn’t actually exist, because there is already a lot of transparency out there on fuel prices,” he said, pointing out that no other item is required to have pricing on a totem pole.
“As I’m driving, my car sat nav tells me fuel prices as I drive past a station, and you have already got various sources of that information whether it is Waves, Google, PetrolPrices. And so I am not entirely sure what this is going to achieve beyond maybe a better and more accurate and comprehensive data set around fuel prices.”
He added that often forecourts change their prices more than once a day, running the risk of motorists driving to a site they believe will be cheaper only to find that the price has since gone up.
“There are a lot of operators who price differently between say 7am-9am to encourage footfall to the shop for the croissant and coffee crowd and white van drivers who want six bacon rolls from Greggs, and will go to a particular site that they see is 3p lower. After that rush they will put that price up again. Certainly a lot change their prices a couple of times a day to capture particular demographics driving past.”
This very problem had been highlighted in Germany where operators tend to change fuel pricing much more during the day, said Gideon Carroll, founder and chief executive of EdgePetrol. He agreed that it was “certainly not helpful” that VE3 Global is new to the industry and the issues it might present. He asked, for example, who would ultimately be responsible for a non-compliance issue at a commission operated site.
“I think it is a case of ‘be careful what you wish for,’” said Carroll. I don’t think it [Fuel Finder] is dramatically going to change consumer behaviour or reduce prices. If anything with more compliance, and more cost, it might actually increase the prices at the pump and also have the potential of having the complete opposite effect of regaining consumer, end user trust.”
VE3 Global was approached for comment but did not reply.
