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Business secretary cites consumer frustration with high prices
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Relief measures aren’t always seen in retail market, he said
Fuel prices at gas station on the M62 motorway near Manchester, on June 11.
UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he has asked the Competition and Markets Authority to urgently review the retail fuel market to assess whether it has hurt consumer interests amid rising prices.
He has also requested a longer-term study that would examine the health of competition in the market, according to a letter Kwarteng sent to CMA Chief Executive Officer Andrea Coscelli June 11 and posted on his Twitter account Sunday.
Kwarteng said that despite the government cutting fuel duty for petrol and diesel as part of a £5 billion package, “there remains widespread concern about the pace of the increase in prices” for consumers and, “that prices may not fall as much or as fast as they rise.”
He added that people are frustrated because the benefits of the package don’t always appear to have been passed on to consumers, “and that in some towns, prices remain higher than in similar, nearby towns.”
Kwarteng’s request comes as the UK government faces pressure to act as households grapple with an unprecedented rise in energy prices.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak signaled earlier this week that a decision on whether to impose a windfall tax on electricity generators could be announced within weeks. In May, the government imposed a 25% levy on the profits of North Sea firms to help fund support for Britons facing a cost-of-living crisis.
