The Chair of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has emphasised that fuel prices on the island are ‘constantly under review’.

Tim Glover MHK responded to a question during this week’s House of Keys sitting from MHK for Arbory, Castletown and Malew, Jason Moorhouse, enquiring whether the office had considered exercising its powers in relation to the price of petrol on the island.

Mr Glover said: ‘The OFT last produced a roads fuels market monitoring report in 2017, and we continue to collect and publish local petrol and diesel prices in comparison with UK averages on a monthly basis.

‘The local prices are collected by OFT officers, who regularly communicate with both Manx Petroleum and Ellan Vannin Fuels when there are pricing changes to ensure consumers are receiving a fair deal.

‘The monitoring of prices has shown that differences in fuel costs between here and the UK has been small. There were times in fact between 2020 and 2022 when road fuel prices in the Isle of Man were significantly lower than the UK forecourt prices, for a short time by over 10 pence per litre.

‘There has been market research in the UK on the price of road fuel during 2022 to 2023. We always examine this research to determine whether this will affect the Isle of Man and its consumers.’