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In May 2002, the FTC announced a project to monitor wholesale and retail prices of gasoline in an effort to identify possible anticompetitive activities and determine whether a law enforcement investigation would be warranted. Today, this project tracks retail gasoline and diesel prices in some 360 cities across the nation and wholesale (terminal rack) prices in 20 major urban areas. The FTC’s Bureau of Economics staff receives daily data from the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a private data collection company. Staff receives information weekly from the Department of Energy’s public “Gas Price Hotline,” and also reviews other relevant information that might be reported to the FTC directly by the public or by other federal or state government entities. An econometric model is used to determine whether current retail and wholesale prices each week are anomalous in comparison with historical data.
The Monitoring Project alerts FTC staff to unusual changes in gasoline and diesel prices so that further inquiry can be undertaken expeditiously. When price increases do not appear to result from market-driven causes, staff consults with the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy. FTC staff also contacts the offices of the appropriate state Attorneys General to discuss the anomaly and appropriate potential actions, including the opening of an investigation.
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