Coles to abandon ‘price sharing’ platform in response to rip-off scheme allegations

Dana McCauley
DECEMBER 16, 2015
News.com.au

Coles Express will stop using the controversial Informed Sources platform next year.
IN A partial win for motorists, Coles Express has vowed to stop using a controversial information sharing platform that allegedly keeps petrol prices artificially high.
The chain’s parent company Eureka Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd has promised not to renew its Informed Sources subscription when it expires in April, part of a deal to settle a legal battle with the national competition regulator.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had alleged Coles Express, along with BP, Caltex, Woolworths and 7-Eleven, were using the platform the share near real time information about their pricing, with potential cartel-like effects.
Coles Express has entered into an enforceable undertaking in the Federal Court to let its subscription lapse, and not to sign up for any similar alternative scheme.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims welcomed the Coles Express decision to settle the dispute out of court, calling the agreement “an extremely positive step towards increasing competition in the petrol market”.
But the deal is understood to include no admission of guilt by the retailer and no financial penalty or costs order imposed on Coles Express.
And it remains to be seen whether the remaining petrol retailers will strike a similar deal to resolve the dispute, which is listed for a trial in February.
News of the settlement comes the day after the ACCC released a damning report showing service stations were taking the biggest cut that’s been seen in more than a decade.
Mr Sims yesterday told the ABC that petrol retailers were engaging in “aggressive” market behaviour, calling for a change in behaviour.
The ACCC report revealed service stations were enjoying the highest margins since it began monitoring prices in 2002.
Despite plummeting oil prices, motorist are paying $1.30 per litre and above across the country.
The commission launched the price sharing proceedings in August last year, alleging that the information sharing arrangement operated between Informed Sources and major petrol retailers were decreasing competition in Melbourne.
The ACCC argued the alleged price sharing was a breach of the competition and consumer laws, which prohibit “contracts, arrangements or understandings that have the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition”.
A Coles Express spokesman said in a statement the retailer operated in a “highly competitive” market and had agreed to settle with the ACCC to avoid “a prolonged court process”.
“Coles Express will cease utilising the Informed Sources service when its current contract expires in April 2016,” the spokesman said.
“We will continue to offer its customers great quality, service and value in the convenience and fuel sector.”