The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that if evidence was found that the 5 pence fuel duty reduction had not been passed, an investigation would be launched, with fines possible for violators of retailers.
This came when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said the UK would experience the lowest growth next year from any developed country as the war in Ukraine fuels inflation.
Growth will fall from 7.4% last year to 3.6% this year before stopping altogether in 2023, the influential think tank said, urging Rishi Sunak to consider tax cuts to help businesses and consumers.
Rising fuel prices were caused for the first time by complications in gas supplies from the Covid blockade, but escalated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Rising gasoline prices are just one aspect of the financial strain on households that will see the biggest drop in household disposable income since the start of the record in the 1950s, according to official government forecasts.
Energy bills have doubled in more than a year, taxes began to rise last month and inflation is expected to exceed 9 percent in 2022, which will reduce real wages.
The cost of living crisis was identified by Boris Johnson’s advisers as one of the biggest political challenges in the coming years, combined with the threat of a recession later this year.
A package of 22 billion pounds was recently announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to ease the rise in energy prices, but is now pushing again from prime ministers for more help.
The average price of the pump reached 182.31 pence per liter on Wednesday, after jumping more than 2 percent in just 24 hours earlier in the week, marking the biggest one-day increase in 17 years.
In some places, this meant that petrol was ahead of diesel as the most expensive fuel per liter, although on a national basis, average diesel prices also reached another record high of 188.05 pence, according to RAC data.
The latest jump raises the cost of charging a 55-liter family car to £ 100.27. A full diesel charge now costs £ 103.43.
RAC’s Simon Williams said: “Today is a really gloomy day for petrol drivers who are now crossing the rather depressing £ 100 threshold of a tank.
“With such high average prices, there will almost certainly be rising inflationary pressures, which is bad news for everyone.”
The government’s 5-pent reduction in fuel tariffs, announced on March 23, when the average liter cost 177.5 pence, was virtually lifted by mid-May, when prices reached a new record high of 178.4 pence.
The price comparison website PetrolPrices said the most expensive price charged was 202.9 pence per liter at BP’s A1 (M) sites near Sunderland, Tyne and Weir; A1 (M) near Weatherby, West Yorkshire; M4 near Chippenham, Wiltshire; and the M6 near Burton in Kendall, Cumbria.
A spokesman for the prime minister said the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had the power to launch an investigation into whether the tariff reduction had been passed on.
“We know there have been variations in this and we really want to see it at all the gas stations. “We are not sure that this is happening everywhere,” he said.
“The CMA said that if they found evidence that the redundancy was not being passed on, it would mean that the competition was not working and they could launch a formal investigation. We will obviously support them wholeheartedly.”
The Gasoline Retailers Association, which represents independent gas stations, declined to comment when it contacted the PA news agency.
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