Hoax at the petrol station: petrol stations forced to display average prices but the App for users is not yet there

TURIN. From 1 August, all Italian petrol stations will have to display a billboard with the average prices of fuel, so that motorists can understand if they are paying more than they should in a specific petrol station. If the gas station attendants don’t comply with the obligation, they risk a fine of between 200 and 2000 euros (depending on the turnover) and even the suspension of the activity after 4 violations.

Instead, traces of the app that was supposed to automatically provide the prices of the 3 cheapest lifts in the vicinity have been lost.

On the obligation to display average prices, the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy has issued a circular to provide further clarification on the methods of implementation. The aggregated data (national for motorway distributors and regional for the others) will be made available online every morning in a special section of Mimit’s website.

Applause and criticism. The measure has raised doubts on the part of the Antitrust and Unem (the former oil union), and somewhat surprisingly, even consumer associations are expressing some perplexity about an initiative that should serve precisely to protect consumers. According to the president of Assoutenti, Furio Truzzi, “anything that favors transparency and simplification in the communication of prices to consumers is good, but the light should be focused on the speculations that take place before the fuel arrives at the distributors”. Also for the president of Codacons, Carlo Rienzi, “any increase in transparency on the fuel price front is positive, but the measures envisaged by the government alone are not enough to bring down the price lists at the pump and counter speculation”.

According to Unem, «these cartels are not particularly useful for consumers, on the contrary they could cause harm to competition. The Antitrust has confirmed its perplexities, already anticipated during its hearing in the House last January, which we fully shared and also reaffirmed on the occasion of our recent annual meeting».

Specifically, says the Antitrust that “recent regulatory provisions are to be appreciated to the extent that they allow certain improvements, in particular the possibility for the user to set up a search on the basis of his own selection criteria, while other measures envisaged therein, specifically the advertising of average prices with respect to large geographical areas, are not particularly useful for consumers, as well as lend themselves to potential use by companies as a focal price, possibly damaging competition».

In the meantime, the Antitrust has presented an overall provision on fuel prices and an analysis of the competitive dynamics in the sector. The results were commented by Massimiliano Dona, president of the national consumers’ union, according to whom «the Antitrust has accepted and fully agreed with the remarks we have raised on the Observatory on fuel prices. We had reported the bogus prices that were communicated to the Ministry, arguing that such incorrect or omitted communication represented an unfair commercial practice. Well, we can only express our satisfaction with the opening of 5 investigative proceedings for the omitted control over the methods of displaying prices at the pump and the omitted communication to the Price Observatory. Also accept our comments on the App, useful if it will automatically provide the prices of the 3 most convenient systems, by type of fuel, within a radius of kilometers chosen by the consumer. Now, however, the government must do its part, given that nothing more has been heard of the App”.