The Competition and Markets Authority’s latest quarterly report on fuel prices has once more found that retail margins have increased at both standard forecourts and supermarket petrol stations, despite the organisation benchmarking against a year when falling pump prices drove inflation down, and while admitting it has not taken wider economic factors into consideration.
The CMA says retail prices for unleaded and diesel rose respectively by 1.9ppl and 3.5ppl from April to June this year. But while chastising the sector for what it deems “deeply concerning” fuel margins, the authority concedes wholesale fuel prices also rose over the period.
The watchdog continues to use 2017 as a benchmark for the current market, highlighting that back then average forecourt margins were 6.4%, and 4% at supermarkets, with those figures standing at 9.8% and 8.4% for the first half of 2025.
Yet prices fell so much in 2017 that the Office for National Statistics said this was the biggest reason for an overall drop in inflation in July of that year. The ONS also highlighted falling fuel prices in April, May and June 2017.
Further, the CMA admits that it “does not consider developments in operating costs” when assessing fuel margins, meaning that rising electricity prices and the recent bump in employer National Insurance contributions are not taken into account by the organisation. The CMA says it will take operating costs into account when it publishes its first ever annual road fuel monitoring report at the end of the year, though.
The upcoming Fuel Finder scheme, which will require forecourt operators to share live petrol and diesel prices with the government on pain of significant fines, was recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority as a result of its research into the sector.
Responsibility for implementing Fuel Finder was subsequently handed to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is behind the drive for electric cars and is headed by Ed Miliband, whom The Guardian has described as being “routinely portrayed” as a “climate zealot”. The £1.8m contract for Fuel Finder was awarded to a company called V3 Global.
Conflicting industry reactions
Responding to the CMA’s latest report, Gordon Balmer from the Petrol Retailers Association says:
“The latest CMA report is incomplete as it continues to benchmark current fuel margins against eight-year-old data. PRA continues to reinforce that operating costs for fuel retailers have increased substantially during this period.
“Rising costs of borrowing, increased labour costs due to successive national minimum wage hikes, higher business rates, increased employer National Insurance contributions, soaring energy bills and escalating crime levels all contribute to the financial pressures facing forecourt operators. These are crucial factors when assessing fuel pricing.
“Our members remain committed to fair pricing and we encourage motorists seeking the best prices to download the PetrolPrices.com app.”
The RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, took a different approach to Balmer, saying:
“It’s very concerning that the CMA has once again concluded that fuel margins remain historically high. Unfortunately, the CMA’s ongoing scrutiny appears so far to have had little effect on changing retailer behaviour.
“Hope of seeing more competitive prices on the nation’s forecourts now rests on the government’s Fuel Finder scheme delivering when it comes into operation at the end of the year. If retailers being mandated to report their prices daily doesn’t lead to greater competition in the market, then further questions will need to be asked.
“We also look forward to seeing the results of the CMA’s first annual road fuel monitoring report at the end of the year as this will look at retailer operating costs and their impact on margins.”
