President Biden called FTC to investigate illegal increase in Gas Prices

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Americans have experienced rising costs in prices at the pump to shopping at grocery stores as gas prices soar across the United States. President Joe Biden called on the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether illegal conduct is driving up the cost of gas prices for families. He wrote a letter on Wednesday to the chair of the FTC, Lina Khan. Biden called her attention to mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies. President Biden wrote, “The bottom line is this: gasoline prices at the pump remain high, even though oil and gas companies’ costs are declining. The Federal Trade Commission has the authority to consider whether illegal conduct is costing families at the pump. I believe you should do so immediately”.

Point to be noted that the latest Consumer Price Index showed the cost of gasoline is up nearly 50% from a year ago, as inflation had its largest annual increase in more than 30 years at 6.2%. The average price for a gallon of gas is $3.41, which was a slight dip from last month. The average price one year ago was $2.12., while more than 53.4 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 13% from last year. It includes 48.3 million people traveling by road. Biden stressed that the director of the National Economic Council wrote to her at his request a few months ago, asking the commission to consider monitoring gas markets and consider addressing illegal conduct. Since then, commission staff was directed by Khan to strengthening oversight.

President Biden also wrote, “However, prices at the pump have continued to rise, even as refined fuel costs go down and industry profits go up. Usually, prices at the pump correspond to movement in prices of unfinished gasoline, which is the main ingredient in the gas people buy at the gas station. But in the last month, the price of unfinished gasoline is down more than 5% while gas prices at the pump are up 3 percent in that same period. This unexplained large gap between the price of unfinished gasoline and the average price at the pump is well above the pre-pandemic average”. In response, a spokesperson for the FTC said, “The FTC is concerned about this issue, and we are looking into it”. However, the American Petroleum Institute pushed back on the president’s request.