Consumer Agency Launches Fuel Price Investigation

The National Consumer Agency has launched an investigation into the price of fuel, and will issue a report to the Tanaiste, according to an announcement this morning.

The report is examining wholesale costs of fuel and oil and retail prices charged on the forecourts, which the agency says it has been tracking for sometime.

Ann Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of the National Consumer Agency, said: "We began looking into the issue of fuel prices some weeks ago and are currently examining wholesale prices as well as those being charged to the consumer on the forecourts."

Ms Fitzgerald added that prices are being supplied to Irish authorities on a monthly basis despite the EU publishing weekly tracked prices. This has led to a discrepancy in what is being charged, and what the European accepted value of fuel really is.

Making the announcement, Ms Fitzgerald said the data the EU is receiving from the Irish authorities is "hopelessly inadequate and out of date", with the result that weekly tracking of Irish prices versus those in other EU countries is impossible.

"With the global price of oil fluctuating, we want to ascertain whether oil companies are quickly passing on savings on oil prices internationally and if petrol and diesel pump operators are subsequently passing those savings on to consumers," she said.

(DW)