Until this year, finding the cheapest fuel near you meant driving past a few forecourts or relying on prices that some retailers chose to share. That changed in 2026. Under a new law, fuel retailers across the UK now have to publish their pump prices, and keep them up to date.
The scheme is called Fuel Finder. Here's how it works and what it means for you.
The short version
- The law: the Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025
- Who it covers: anyone who sells petrol or diesel to the public as a retail business
- The key rule: a price change must be reported within 30 minutes
- Price reporting started: 2 February 2026
- Enforced by: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
- Who gets the data: it's shared openly with apps, maps, satnavs and sites like PlugOrPump
What is Fuel Finder?
Fuel Finder is a central government system that collects fuel prices from every forecourt and passes them on to anyone who wants to build a service with them. Retailers send their prices in, and the data is shared, in the words of the CMA's enforcement guidance, "freely and openly with third parties who register for the service, such as fuel price comparison and navigational apps".
Retailers can report prices in several ways. According to Fuels Industry UK, they can use an automatic link from their till system, a web portal, text message or an automated phone line, so even a small independent garage can comply.
Who has to report?
The regulations apply to any "motor fuel trader", defined as "a person who offers motor fuel for sale in the course of a retail business". In practice, that means supermarkets, oil company forecourts and independent filling stations alike. There's no size threshold in the rules.
In an open letter to retailers in April 2026, the CMA set out what traders must do:
- register every forecourt they own with Fuel Finder
- submit a price update within 30 minutes of a price change
- update forecourt or business details within three days of any change
The 30-minute rule
This is the heart of the scheme. Regulation 9 requires the new price of each grade to reach the system "before the end of the period of 30 minutes beginning with the time at which the change occurs". If a forecourt cuts or raises its price at 8am, the new price should be in Fuel Finder by 8.30am.
When did it start?
It came in stages:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 18 December 2025 | Registration opened and the CMA published its enforcement guidance |
| 2 February 2026 | Retailers had to start reporting prices within 30 minutes |
| 2 February to 30 April 2026 | Grace period: the CMA focused on helping businesses comply |
| 1 May 2026 | The CMA began prioritising enforcement against non-compliance |
The dates come from the regulations, the government guidance for retailers and the CMA's open letter.
What did it replace?
Before Fuel Finder, there was an interim, voluntary scheme run under the CMA, launched in 2023. Some larger retailers published their prices online, but not everyone took part. The CMA said at the time that it covered only around 40% of fuel retail sites, which wasn't enough for map apps or satnavs to give accurate, live prices.
The government has confirmed that the interim scheme closed on 1 May 2026, leaving Fuel Finder as the single, permanent source.
Who enforces it, and what are the penalties?
The CMA. Under the regulations and its enforcement guidance, it can fine a business that fails to register, fails to report price changes, ignores a compliance notice or gives inaccurate information. The maximum penalties are:
- a fixed amount of up to 1% of worldwide turnover
- a daily penalty of up to 5% of daily worldwide turnover
- or both
Giving false information or obstructing the CMA can also be a criminal offence.
Why was it introduced?
The law grew out of the CMA's road fuel market study, published on 3 July 2023. It concluded that "competition at the pump is not working as well as it should be". Among its findings:
- Average annual supermarket fuel margins rose by 6p a litre between 2019 and 2022. The CMA's final report summary estimated this cost customers of the four big supermarkets around £900 million in 2022 alone.
- Asda's fuel margin target in 2023 was more than three times its 2019 level, and Morrisons doubled its target over the same period. Other supermarkets raised prices in line rather than competing.
- Higher margins on diesel cost drivers an extra 13p a litre between January and the end of May 2023.
- Diesel prices were slow to fall in 2023, partly because Asda was "feathering", cutting pump prices more slowly as wholesale prices fell. This is the pattern drivers often call "rockets and feathers": prices shoot up quickly and float down slowly.
The CMA's answer was to make prices transparent. If drivers can see every price in real time, it's harder for a forecourt to charge well above its neighbours without losing customers.
What data is published?
For each forecourt, retailers have to supply details set out in Schedule 1 of the regulations, including:
- trading name, brand and address
- location (latitude and longitude)
- opening hours and amenities
- which fuel grades it usually sells
- the selling price of each grade
- whether it's temporarily closed
The grades covered include E10, E5, diesel, super diesel, B10 and HVO, where a forecourt sells them.
What it means for you
The biggest change is that you no longer have to guess. Prices for the same fuel can vary between forecourts only a short drive apart, and now you can check before you set off.
A few tips:
- Check before a big fill-up. On a 50-litre tank, every penny a litre is 50p.
- Look slightly further afield. The cheapest forecourt is often a short detour from your usual one.
- Remember prices move. Because retailers must report within 30 minutes, a price you saw this morning may have changed by the afternoon.
PlugOrPump is built on Fuel Finder data. We refresh it every 20 minutes and show E10 petrol and B7 diesel prices for every forecourt near you, cheapest first. Search by postcode or browse fuel prices by town.