The Bundeskartellamt has published its current annual report on the work of its Market Transparency Unit for Fuels.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “There are still considerable differences in the price of petrol at different times of the day and between the various petrol stations. Consumers can take advantage of this and save money with the information provided by the Market Transparency Unit and a fuel prices app. We have observed that the daily pricing pattern has changed in recent weeks. However, the daily up and down price movements are generally well predictable and certain petrol stations are nearly always much cheaper than others. During a single day prices at local petrol stations fluctuate by as much as 20 cents per litre. Prices are usually lowest later in the evening. It is worth planning your route to work or a holiday trip a bit ahead. Especially in the holiday periods you should bear in mind that motorway petrol stations are on average 15 cents per litre more expensive than other petrol stations. Already the off-motorway service areas and petrol stations often located directly next to a motorway exit are in many cases a considerably cheaper alternative.”

Two examples from the report show how easily motorists can save money when filling up:

• Route to work: On a selected commuter route of approx. 10 kms in the Bonn area numerous petrol stations can be accessed without any major detours. The average price at the respective 14 petrol stations on a normal working day (Wednesday, 7 March 2018) was much cheaper on the return route (4 to 6 p.m.) than on the way to work (7 to 9 a.m.). The difference between the highest and lowest price on this route was more than 10 cents/litre in the two time intervals, and even almost 15 cents/litre over the whole day.
• Holiday trip: In another example, on a holiday trip covering 675 kms from Berlin to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Saturday, 21 July 2018), a saving of even 25 cents/litre could be made, i.e. around 15% of the fuel costs. No time-consuming detours would have been necessary to achieve this saving either. There are both cheap and expensive petrol stations along the major routes. Motorway petrol stations are often the most expensive. Off-motorway service areas and petrol stations, especially directly at a motorway exit, are real alternatives.

Current observations of the Market Transparency Unit:

The pattern which fuel prices follow in the course of a day changed shortly before the publication of the Annual Report:

• Fuel prices are generally still highest in the mornings and lowest in the evenings. However, since ten days it has become noticeable that after the first phase of falling prices in the mornings, prices already start to increase again from around 10 a.m. The noon price increase only occurs from around 1 p.m., the afternoon price increase mostly starts already at around 4 p.m. Prices drop again between these periods. As a result, there is again a relatively long low-price phase from around 7 to 10 p.m. before the last increase of the day. Towards the night time, prices are significantly raised by most of the petrol stations which are still open and remain high during the night.

It remains to be seen whether these recent changes in the daily pricing pattern will continue over a longer period.

Further results of the 2018 Annual Report

• There are still significant price differences in the course of a day:
  There can be differences of up to 20 cents/litre between the average highest and lowest fuel prices within one town. In specific cases these differences can be even higher.
  Every day differences of around 10 cents/litre can be observed between the average highest and lowest fuel prices at one and the same petrol station, whether in a town or rural area.
• In 2018 prices still tended to be highest in the morning and lowest in the evening.
• Until the most recent change, the daily pricing pattern last year was as follows: In the course of a day prices increased on average at four different times in 24 hours, i.e. early morning (from approx. 6 a.m.), noon (from approx. 12 a.m.), afternoon (from approx. 5 p.m.) and late evening (from approx. 10 p.m.). Prices fell again between these periods.
• The relative price position of the different petrol stations compared to each other is quite stable. "Cheap" petrol stations mostly remained relatively cheap. "Expensive" petrol stations mostly stayed relatively expensive.
• Prices at motorway stations remained considerably higher than those at petrol stations at other locations. In a nationwide comparison motorway petrol stations were on average 15 cents/litre more expensive than other petrol stations.
• For the first time, the prices of petrol at off-motorway service areas located directly near the motorway were evaluated more closely as well. These were on average significantly lower than at motorway petrol stations (by much more than 10 cents/litre) and slightly more expensive than other off-motorway petrol stations (by a few cents/litre).
• As in previous years there were only minor price differences between the different regions of Germany in the first half of 2018. However, especially in October and November 2018 fuel prices in southern Germany were on average much higher than in the north (in extreme cases around 20 cents/litre). In this context voices from the oil sector pointed out the transport problems resulting from the low level of the Rhine in the late summer/autumn and the fire at a refinery in Vohburg near Ingolstadt. The latest price differences observed again broadly mirror those in the first half of 2018.
• Initially, the development of fuel prices in 2018 essentially followed that of the crude oil price as in previous years. However, especially in October and November, the gap between the price of petrol and that of crude oil was particularly large. Again, voices from the sector attributed this development to the low level of the Rhine and the refinery fire in Vohburg. However, this gap was closing again by the end of last year. Recently (with the exception of diesel) it was roughly the same as in early 2018.
• Again in 2018 fuel prices were not noticeably increased around Easter and Whitsuntide.

The Market Transparency Unit for Fuels collects price data from over 14,750 petrol stations in Germany. For its report the Bundeskartellamt primarily evaluated fuel prices throughout Germany (E5, E10 and diesel) for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. The Market Transparency Unit does not itself offer real-time price information to interested citizens but forwards information on notified 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 full Annual Report (in German) is available at the Bundeskartellamt’s website. You will also find further Information on the Market Transparency Unit for Fuels (partly in English) and a list of the authorised consumer information services on the website.