Second annual report of Market Transparency Unit for Fuels

17.12.2015

Today the Bundeskartellamt published its second annual report on the work of the Market Transparency Unit for Fuels.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "Even in times of low fuel prices, motorists can still save money by comparing prices and refuelling at a cheap petrol station. Above all, it is worth keeping an eye on the times of day where prices usually drop. So far this has almost always been late afternoon."

The key findings from the report are:

  • There are still significant price changes on each weekday that occur during the course of the day. On average the petrol stations raise their prices once in the evening and carry out several smaller price reductions during the following day.
  • The amount which consumers can save has also remained essentially stable.
    - If a motorist refuels at the cheapest petrol station in town at the cheapest time of the day, he or she can save on average 15 – 20 cents per litre.
    - If a motorist refuels at one and the same petrol station in town at the cheapest time of the day, he or she can still save on average about 10 cents per litre.
    - Motorists who use diesel are able to save even more on average.
  • On average the cheapest time to refuel is still usually between 6pm and 8pm. With the exception of a few sporadic price increases before 8pm, most of the price increases happen between 8pm and midnight.
  • Since the beginning of the summer many petrol stations have discontinued their practice of lowering prices gradually over the course of the day. Instead, prices drop once in the morning. Around noon many petrol stations raise their prices again by an average of 3 cents per litre. Afterwards prices drop again until the evening.
  • Since Spring 2015 individual oil companies have started to offer their customers special prices based on the data provided by the Market Transparency Unit.
  • Finally, other than in previous years, fuel prices did not increase in 2015 at Easter and Whitsuntide.

In its report the Bundeskartellamt evaluated fuel prices throughout Germany for the period from 1 December 2014 to 31 May 2015. In some cases later reference periods and points in time were examined. The report provides more detailed price analyses for the cities of Berlin, Dresden, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

The Market Transparency Unit for Fuels commenced its normal operation on 1 December 2013. It collects price data from approx.14,650 petrol stations in Germany.

The Market Transparency Unit does not itself offer price information to interested citizens but forwards information on price changes to consumer information services in a very short space of time. Motorists can call up the information from a number of information service providers, both online and via mobile apps.


The Unit's annual report (in German) can be found on the Bundeskartellamt's website where you will also find further Information on the Market Transparency Unit for Fuels and a list of the consumer information services admitted to the system.

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