Fuel-price hikes did not breach law – CCPC
An investigation carried out by the competition and consumer-protection watchdog into sharp rises in fuel prices in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East has found no breaches of the law.
The Government had asked the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to look at allegations of price-gouging, after complaints from consumers.
The commission’s report identified what it described as “a small number of questionable consumer-protection practices”, but it said that it had not seen price increases that were in breach of any law.
Complaints
The CCPC has published details of more than 900 complaints received from consumers from the week of 2 March, with the vast majority linked to sudden and significant prices increases across essential fuel products.
Fewer than 5% of complaints reported specific consumer-protection issues with certain home-heating-oil suppliers, as a result of which the CCPC is engaging with consumers and companies on “a small number” of complaints.
In a statement, the CCPC said that controlling prices in competitive markets was outside the scope of competition and consumer-protection law.
As a result, it said, complaints relating solely to price increases would not constitute a breach of these laws.
Markers ‘reasonably competitive’
The watchdog said that its analysis of the home-heating and road-fuels markets – including profit margins – had found that they were “reasonably competitive”.
“While we cannot rule out that individual companies may have benefited from price increases, overall, the very high price increases we are seeing nationally across both the home heating oil and road fuel markets are driven by increases in wholesale costs,” said CCPC chair Brian McHugh.
“Taken together, the examination of wholesale prices, retail prices, and the review of the home-heating oil and road-fuel markets indicate that the price increases seen in recent weeks were not driven by competition issues, but rather by significant increases in international wholesale costs,” the CCPC found.