Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of (a) trends in the level of barriers to entry in the fuel retail market and (b) the potential impact of those barriers on competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) 2023 Market Study assessed whether measures making it easier for new or existing retailers to open new petrol filling stations (PFSs) would address competition issues identified in the market.

It concluded that removing barriers to opening new PFSs would not have a significant impact on the number of PFSs, or materially affect competition in the market.

This government is implementing the CMA’s recommendations to increase competition by launching Fuel Finder, and the CMA road fuels monitoring function.