"The technical process works smoothly and price changes are reported to the consumer information services within a few minutes."In the meantime, the data from the market transparency office for fuels, as it is officially called, is passed on to nine service providers, where it can be accessed by motorists online or via cell phone apps. More than 14,000 gas stations report their price changes, which is almost all of them.
The transparency center was set up to enable motorists to compare gasoline and diesel prices quickly and accurately and thus intensify competition between gas stations. The suspicion was that the gas stations were taking advantage of the lack of market transparency and were charging drivers excessive prices for gasoline and diesel. This was denied by the mineral industry.
According to initial market impressions, the reporting office has not led to lower prices, but it has led to a better overview for motorists. A balance sheet of the effect of this unique institution can only be drawn in the coming year, according to the unanimous opinion of companies and consumer associations. The operators of the info pages report high download and user numbers and overwhelmingly positive feedback from motorists. "The more customers use the instrument, the greater the pressure on the corporations to set prices in line with competition," said mundt.