Asda to display live fuel prices online following CMA report

4th Aug 2023

Supermarket giant Asda will start displaying live fuel prices on its website following Government intervention.

The move comes weeks after pressure from MPs and a report from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), regarding the future of fuel pricing in the UK.

In fact, Energy Secretary Grant Shapps told Britain’s leading supermarkets that ‘enough is enough’ and that it was time for a change over the future of fuel prices.

Findings from the report revealed that Asda’s fuel margins rose by 6p per litre between 2019 and 2022.

This highlighted the concerns felt by drivers across the country that they were profiteering fuel during the last few years, which have been especially challenging for drivers.

As a result, they will be the first supermarket to display their pricing online for all customers to see before they set off on their next journey.

Prices will be available from 10.30am every day, and it will also highlight the cost for petrol and diesel at the end of the previous day.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “While it’s good to see the supermarkets start to publish their pump prices, we don’t believe displaying them on websites will suddenly make retailers start charging fairer prices, particularly as free mobile apps such as myRAC can actually compare prices among all fuel retailers – large and small – wherever they are in the country.

“Real competition is the key, and this is something we are sadly lacking at the moment, other than in Northern Ireland where fuel is more than 4p a litre cheaper than the rest of the UK.

“We don’t believe we’re likely to see real change until we have an official price monitoring body, as recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority, that has the power to fine companies that don’t properly reflect significant downward wholesale market movements on their forecourts.”

What do you make of the announcement? What else could be done to help drive down the price of fuel at forecourts across the UK? Leave your comments below.