Five years of Market Transparency Unit for Fuels

For five years now consumers have been able to obtain reliable and up-to-date information on petrol and diesel prices at petrol stations in Germany. The Market Transparency Unit for Fuels (MTU Fuels) at the Bundeskartellamt commenced regular operation on 1 December 2013.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Especially in times of high prices it is worth comparing prices in the immediate area and refuelling at the cheapest station near you. There are still very big differences in prices between the various petrol stations, particularly at different times of the day. Prices at motorway petrol stations are also usually well above average so using an app saves a lot of money."

The MTU Fuels has considerably increased transparency on fuel prices for the consumer. Since its launch consumers can obtain information on the latest prices for Super E5, Super E10 and diesel at petrol stations in Germany from numerous information service providers by app or online.

The oil companies are obliged by law to report all the price changes at their petrol stations to MTU Fuels, which then makes this information available to accredited information service providers. The MTU collects price data from approx.14,750 petrol stations in Germany. Around 50 different providers currently make this information available on their information portals.

Andreas Mundt on current price developments: “We are closely monitoring developments. High prices are naturally annoying. Transport problems and the fire at the refinery in Vohburg near Ingolstadt may have been partly responsible for this; the Federal Government has since released fuel from its national reserves, which is very rare. It is apparent that prices in the north have increased much less in the past few weeks. I expect prices to move down as the water level in the Rhine increases and the price of crude oil drops.”