What Is the Fuel Finder Scheme?
How it came about
The scheme was introduced following a review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the UK road fuel market. The CMA found that fuel prices varied significantly between retailers and between regions, and that consumers had limited ability to compare prices before filling up.
The recommendation was simple: make the prices public. If consumers can easily see what nearby stations are charging, competition increases and prices come down — or at least, the most expensive stations become easier to avoid.
A voluntary scheme ran from 2023, with only the largest retailers taking part. That became compulsory under the Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 2 February 2026. The CMA is the statutory enforcer, with enforcement priority starting 1 May 2026.
Who's included
Every UK road fuel forecourt must report prices — the major supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons), the big branded chains (BP, Shell, Esso and others), motorway service areas, and every independent station. If it sells petrol or diesel to the public, it's in scope.
This is the main change from the voluntary 2023 scheme, which covered only the largest retailers. Coverage is now complete.
What data is published
For every station, the central feed contains:
- Station location — address and coordinates
- Brand and trading name — who runs it
- Current prices — for each fuel type sold (unleaded E10, super unleaded E5, diesel, premium diesel)
- Last updated — when the price was last changed
- Closure flags — whether the station is temporarily or permanently shut
The data is published as open data: free for anyone to use without registration. Retailers push updates within 30 minutes of any price change, so the feed stays fresh throughout the day.
How the data reaches you
The raw feed is a single national CSV file refreshed continuously at fuel-finder.service.gov.uk. It's designed for developers, not end users — the file has tens of thousands of rows and no map, search, or filtering.
That's where fuel price comparison apps come in. They pull the central feed — and equivalent feeds from the other European countries — and present the stations on a map or in a searchable list sorted by price or distance.
What about stations not in the scheme?
Under the compulsory scheme, every UK road fuel forecourt is required to report. In practice, a handful may lag on the day a new site opens or as operators change hands, and enforcement of the 30-minute reporting window only becomes a priority from May 2026 onwards. For the overwhelming majority of stations you'd actually fill up at, the price on the app is the price on the pump.
Is this just a UK thing?
No — similar schemes exist across Europe. France has prix-carburants.gouv.fr, Germany has MTS-K (run by the Bundeskartellamt — Tankerkönig and similar consumer apps pull from it), Spain has geoportalgasolineras.es (MITECO), Italy has Osservaprezzi Carburanti (MIMIT), Portugal has precoscombustiveis.dgeg.gov.pt, and Austria has E-Control. Each publishes fuel prices as open data, though the format, update frequency, and coverage vary by country.
The principle is the same everywhere: transparent pricing leads to better competition and more informed consumers.
Try FuelHound
FuelHound pulls from the Fuel Finder scheme and equivalent feeds across seven European countries. Live prices, no ads, no tracking.
Learn more