Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025

Considered in Grand Committee

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025.

My Lords, this is my first appearance before the Grand Committee—and a very welcome one for me. In my previous parliamentary career, I spent a lot of time trying to take statutory instruments apart as a member of the Opposition. I would pick little bits from those statutory instruments into pieces, to try to put the then Minister on his or her toes. I am sure that practice will not be followed in this House for statutory instruments, but I accept that, if it is, I will have only myself to blame for what transpires.

These regulations were laid before the House on 13 October 2025. They seek to establish the legislative basis for creating a statutory open data scheme—fuel finder—which will increase fuel price transparency across all UK petrol filling stations, empowering consumers to compare prices on a near real-time basis.

In recent years we have witnessed the rise in fuel prices and the profound impact that this has had on households, businesses and communities across the UK. Between 2021 and 2022, the price of petrol and diesel rose by over 60p per litre, driven by global supply and demand shocks stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, drivers paid an estimated £900 million more at the pumps across major supermarket retailers than the previous year. By 2023, higher fuel margins across the whole market had cost drivers a further £1.6 billion.

The CMA found that price rises for fuel and disparities between prices at a local level were largely driven by major retailers using this volatile backdrop, and the lack of transparency, to unfairly increase their profit margins at the expense of consumers across the UK. That therefore contributed to the cost of living crisis and the hardship that families up and down the country have felt in recent years. That is why we are delivering change to protect consumers, to put an end to unfair pricing practices and to increase transparency in the fuel retail market.

I should also note that, as with any major digital service rollout, there are delivery risks. Passing the cross-government service assessment is a critical milestone and, while we are working hard to meet this requirement, any delay could affect the digital service being in place for the commencement dates. We are actively managing these risks to keep the project on track, and we will keep the House informed as we progress.

To support this transition and minimise risk, the scheme has been carefully designed to take into account the operational realities of a diverse range of fuel retailers to ensure that the measures are clear and proportionate. Indeed, the regulations were designed in consultation with industry. Our aim is to build up an open data scheme that not only serves a purpose for consumers but supports the retailers that are involved in reporting.

We have designed a simple and time-efficient system for retailers to provide price updates using a practical and accessible digital solution that works across all types of retailers. We recognise that, while the primary purpose of this scheme is fuel price transparency, price is not always the sole factor in a consumer’s decision on where to buy fuel. These regulations therefore ask petrol filling stations to provide data on the amenities and facilities at the forecourt as part of the registration process. This relates to the existence of the amenity or facility or the intent to provide it, rather than its functionality or availability.

The list of amenities and facilities to report is provided within the digital service. Following further consultation with industry, it is a proportionate list that should not be new information or cause additional burdens on petrol stations. While this requirement is subject to the regulations’ enforcement provisions, the CMA expects to target enforcement action against conduct that is most likely to undermine the effectiveness of fuel finder and to be more harmful to consumers and competition. Its focus will therefore be on ensuring that businesses register with fuel finder and that pricing information is accurately provided, rather than on amenities and facilities, which are unlikely to be priorities for enforcement, except where significant harm has been identified.

While it is impossible to predict how fuel prices will respond—they remain incredibly sensitive to wider geopolitical factors—we estimate that implementing a statutory open data scheme for fuel prices in the UK could result in fuel cost savings for drivers totalling £10.4 billion across a 10-year period. For householders who own a car, this could mean an average saving of about £40 a year—a meaningful difference for all those who rely on vehicles for work, school and caring responsibilities. These savings represent real relief for families and communities across the country.

We have seen the benefits of other fuel price open data schemes in countries such as Australia and Germany, where consumers have access to real-time data and where prices have decreased. These international examples show that markets respond to open data schemes, which deliver their promises to bring down prices. This makes me confident that fuel finder will not only meet expectations but set a new standard for transparency in the UK fuel market.

The instrument before us represents an important step in bringing forth real change in market transparency and a progressive step towards a more transparent and fair market. The Government are committed to honouring the promise in the 2024 Budget to restore fairness at the pump and ensure that motorists are no longer disadvantaged by pricing practices. Fuel finder is not just a technical solution but a practical one that puts consumers across the UK at the heart of policy design. By shining a light on pricing practices, fuel finder will increase competition to help bring down fuel prices and ensure that no driver is left overpaying at the pump. I beg to move.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this statutory instrument forward. This was indeed a Conservative initiative, started under the previous Government and designed both to increase competition and to benefit consumers; His Majesty’s loyal Opposition are of course pleased that the current Administration are continuing our work.

The need for this measure was made apparent by the excessive profits earned by major retailers due to a sudden rise in fuel prices in the wake of global supply shocks resulting from the Covid pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine. By 2023, higher fuel margins across the whole market were costing drivers a total of £2.5 billion, £900 million of which went to major supermarket retailers as a result of a 60p per litre hike in fuel prices for consumers.

This instrument aims to create a fairer fuel market. Competition is its aim, and competition is best achieved through the transparency of data and information. Artificially increasing margins becomes materially more challenging when the consumer is no longer on the wrong side of asymmetric information and fully knows that he or she can drive just a few minutes down the road to save money. Being aware of pricing is one part of this, but knowing whether margins are fair and whether their past increases were proportionate is another equally important factor.

Although this instrument requires petrol filling stations to report price changes, it does not extend to reporting on the availability of fuel types. We would be most grateful if the Government could address this issue at pace. It cannot be logical that a driver will be able to see a competitive price but then be disappointed by an empty pump when they arrive at their destination. Is the Minister giving consideration to this? Do the Government accept that an individual using a fuel finder app will indeed be disappointed to arrive at the pump only to find that what they want is not available and will, as a consequence, potentially lose faith in the system?

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their contributions and in particular the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, for his very constructive contribution. As he rightly points out, this proposal originated with the previous Government but, I think, fell at the time of the general election—it had started to go through the House. The present Government have been able to take that original proposal and have some extensive consultations and discussions with industry and various other key actors in this field to make sure that the fuel finder was as streamlined and as effective as it could be. That is the form in which it comes before us today.

In terms of the regulations coming in in February, the aim is to make sure that this proposal comes in by the end of the year but, as the noble Earl will appreciate, there is a large number of technical issues to resolve in order to meet that date. What I can best say today is that there is an aim to do that by the end of the year and we hope that will be possible. I hope the noble Earl will understand that there is a lot of work to get this in place and we hope that will be finished in time for that target date to be achieved.

When the fuel finder was originally introduced, there was some suggestion that availability at the pumps should be included among the things that petrol stations had to provide. However, following substantial consultation and considerations of the practical challenge of reporting fuel unavailability—officials did conduct a thorough analysis—it was decided to postpone that and remove the requirement from the fuel finder scheme. But, as I have emphasised, that is a question of postponing and removing for the time being.

If a number of those really practical difficulties can be resolved, that might be something for the future as far as the scheme is concerned, but what the Government wanted to do was make sure that we could introduce a practically implementable and early actionable scheme so that we could get this running on an open access data arrangement as soon as was conceivably possible. I do, however, understand the noble Earl’s concerns. I happen to have an electric car, so perhaps I am a little outside the considerations in this instrument, but I know the problems of an electric car owner thinking that they have found an electric charge point only to find that someone else has been using it for the past three hours and they cannot get near it. There are measures in the industry to resolve that sort of problem, so this is something worth looking at for the future.

Motion agreed.