CMA to Enforce Fuel Price Reporting Rules from May 2026: What Drivers Need to Know About Fuel Finder
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed it will begin prioritising enforcement action against fuel retailers that fail to comply with price reporting rules from 1 May 2026. This marks a significant step in ensuring transparency across the UK fuel market.
On Thursday last week (2nd April 2026) the CMA published an open letter to fuel retailers confirming their position on enforcement action for non compliance from the 1st May 2026.
In that letter the CMA confirmed and encouraged retailers who have not yet registered with the scheme that they:
- Register their forecourts
- Report fuel price changes within 30 minutes
- Keep site and business details up to date
The CMA is responsible for enforcing these rules, although the system operator (VE3 Global) will handle most issues first. Where necessary, the CMA can investigate and impose financial penalties for non-compliance.
To allow time for adjustment, the CMA initially deprioritised enforcement from February to early May 2026. However, from 1 May 2026, it will begin actively prioritising enforcement action.
Read the open letter here.
Fact Checking the Fuel Finder Scheme
1. Launch & legal requirement
The scheme launched on 2 February and legally requires all UK fuel stations to report their prices to the Government within 30 minutes of any change.
2. No official app or website
There’s no official Government app or consumer-facing website. Instead, the data is open for industry to use in their own services.
(We combine this data with our other sources under the username “Fuel Finder”.)
Read more about our approach to Fuel Finder here.
3. Downloadable data option
Consumers can download the data twice daily in Excel format.
Just note: this updates less frequently than apps or websites using live feeds.
4. What retailers must report
Retailers are only required to report price changes – within 30 minutes.
For example, if prices change at 10:00am, they must report it by 10:30am or risk investigation.
5. Understanding timestamps
You may see timestamps like “2 days old.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean the price is wrong, it usually means the price hasn’t changed in 2 days.
6. Fuel types included
Retailers must report prices for six fuel types:
• Unleaded (E10)
• Super Unleaded (E5)
• Diesel (B7)
• Premium Diesel (B7+)
• Diesel (B10)
• HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil)
Consumers also play a role in maintaining data accuracy. Any discrepancies can be reported directly via the Government’s Fuel Finder webpage, helping to improve the reliability of the system over time.
As enforcement ramps up, the Fuel Finder scheme is expected to become an increasingly important tool for UK drivers, offering greater transparency, improved competition, and ultimately better value at the pump.
Have you seen Fuel Finder data in our app yet? Let us know if you have more questions about the scheme in the comments below.
And this will achieve what?
The CMA needs to investigate why fuel stations increase their prices twice or 3 times in a day…when the forecourt has NOT even had a delivery!
The CMA is supposed to stop the petrol retailers from coming together to fleece the public, do the job that you’re supposed to be doing – protect the public from profiteering.
We are already being warned in the background that fuel prices are going to remain high for some time to come, so as per usual prices go up like a rocket and fall like a very small feather irrespective of whether the cease fire holds or peace is achieved in the Middle East.
But anyone with an ounce of sense knows that this is just another government QANGO that will do the governments bidding and while the Exchequer continues to rake in the VAT and fuel escalator they will do absolutely nothing with anything to do with the price of fuel.
Hi Graeme, good questions we plan to track if price changes increase as a result of this scheme launching. In Germany it resulted in price changes of up to 20 times a day! As a result of those excessive changes the German government have now capped how many times a day the price can go up. Time will tell with the scheme here.
What about the price coming down when the price of a barrel of oil drops down?
We will hear that they’re using existing stock purchased at a higher price but this didn’t stop them putting prices up whilst they were going through their cheaper stock as the Iran war kicked off!
Hi Steve, the launch of the Fuel Finder scheme was a result of these concerns. Quote:
“On 3 July 2023, the CMA published its final report on its market study into the supply of road fuel in the United Kingdom. The CMA found that competition at the pump was not working as well as it should be. In response, the CMA recommended that the UK government establish a new monitoring body to scrutinise prices and margins on an ongoing basis1 and an Open Data scheme for fuel prices (Fuel Finder).”
The whole fuel industry is a disgrace. Retailers should be slapped with fines for price gouging. As soon as you sneeze, the price goes up, but NEVER comes back down as quickly. It is just plain robbery and should be dealt with by fines. The government are as bad and should SCRAP VAT on fuel, just pure GREED all around, utterly DISGUSTING
The fuel industry is just apeing the government, the greed starts with the rogues at the H of P and Whitehall.
Sadly, Companies have always passed ‘fines’ onto the Customer through pricing.
So for the last god knows how many years the greedy giants bp shell etc not to mention the sole retailers and the motorway high way robbery mob have been profertering from any slight rise in fuel surely this is illegal but why stop it when the greedy fat cats and of course the government are making upwards of £20 million in extra revenue a day be interesting so see how they react to this scheme
The CMA is about as much use as Stephen Hawking’s skateboard, much like Ofgem. They’ll do the Government’s bidding, but we are already being told that only 15% of forecourts have complied, and it is now two months since ‘Fuel Finder’ was implemented. Why does it take so long for the CMA to act, surely forecourts wer warned well in advance that Fuel Finder was to be implemented. As every fuel user knows, fuel prices are increased immediately yet come down at the ‘will and leisure’ of the forecourts. The Government, and the CMA simply want to APPEAR to be on the side of the fuel user!
Anyone else noticed the amount of fuel stations, particularly supermarkets that have their price signs on the totems turned off. So you only know the price when you pull up to a pump? Obviously you can check and compare in advance but that does not work when they put the prices up so frequently
TESCO is a supermarket that doesnt have prices advertised on the totems, I did think this was illegal but they will get away with it because this govt can’t punch it way out of a paper bag.
I think that in current fuel situation HVO should be more readily available the General Public more stations selling it
perhaps their profits should be scutinised monthly regarding excesses they make above a set norm. then they should be forced to reduce their prices by the same amount plus a discretionary fine to cover the cost of operating such an excercise. They are taking us as mugs
Another toothless watchdog, brought in by a government that wants to APPEAR that they’re getting something – ANYTHING at all – right.
“In that letter the CMA confirmed and encouraged retailers who have not yet registered…”
Encouraged? What the hell is that supposed to do?
Although extremely unlikely, I would like to see a forced display of the price differential between the wholesale price for fuel paid by a garage and the amount charged at the pump. That way, we could easily view which garages are profiteering the most out of a crisis.
To many making price rises when no tankers have been to for court they are just inflating prices to make huge profits . These petrol stations need to be called out
Why is our government not taking some taxes of the price as other countries are doing the amount of extra tax they are making is outrageous they have lost my vote