Overview
- Lower Saxony told the operators of roughly 250 petrol stations that it had issued about 1,900 warning notices for April breaches of the new once‑daily increase rule and said each warning carried a €55 charge.
- The measure being enforced is the Kraftstoffpreisanpassungsgesetz that took effect 1 April 2026 and limits fuel price increases to a single authorized update at 12:00 each day.
- Market data show the rule has shifted price timing so increases cluster at midday and intraday spreads have widened to around 26 cents per litre for diesel and about 21 cents for petrol, making the choice of when to fill up more costly for drivers.
- Authorities identify violations using price‑change records from the Market Transparency Unit at the Bundeskartellamt and Lower Saxony says it will move from warnings to higher fines for May breaches after initially allowing a tolerance window between 11:59 and 12:30.
- The state’s economic minister has proposed moving the allowed increase time to 20:00, creating a central federal enforcement body and introducing a fuel price cap, steps that could change how prices are set, how fines are applied across states and how much drivers pay at peak times.