About FuelWatchNI

FuelWatchNI shows the fuel prices that forecourts across Northern Ireland have reported, so you can compare petrol, premium petrol, diesel and premium diesel whenever you need to, from wherever you are.

Where the prices come from

Retailers report their prices through the UK Fuel Finder scheme. We collect that published data every 30 minutes, check it and show each price with the time it was reported. We do not guess prices. We only correct obvious entry slips: a price typed in pounds instead of pence, extra decimal places (172.999 is shown as 172.9, never rounded up), or petrol and diesel prices entered the wrong way round.

When one price jumps far more than that forecourt’s other prices changed at the same time, it shows as “Under review” and is left out of the Lowest, Average and Highest until the forecourt sends a new price or we check it. When we check a price ourselves, at the pump or by phone, it shows as “Checked by FuelWatchNI” with the time we checked, until the forecourt reports a newer price.

How the comparison works

• Lowest, Average and Highest are worked out for the fuel and area you chose, from up-to-date prices.
• Some stations change their prices every few days, others every few weeks. So a price counts as up to date until that station’s usual time between price changes has passed, never less than 7 days and never more than 30 days. A station without enough price changes to show a pattern counts for 7 days.
• A price is green only when it is below that average. Older prices are still shown with their date, but they are not counted in the average and are never green.
• Sorting by Cost or Distance does not change the average.
• Distances are estimates by road, shown with “~”. Where a station’s map pin has not been checked and there is evidence it may be wrong, we show no distance rather than a misleading one.
• Widening a search adds 2.5, 5 or 10 miles beyond the original search area, in every direction. Each choice is measured from the original area, so the choices do not add up: choosing +5 after +2.5 searches 5 miles out, not 7.5. The furthest any search reaches is 10 miles. Adding stations recalculates the average.

Spotted a wrong price?

Answer “No” under “Price right?” on that station. We then show a link to the government’s own page for reporting it to the Fuel Finder service, which shares reports with the forecourt and, where needed, Trading Standards. Forecourts must update their prices within 30 minutes of a change, and the Competition and Markets Authority can act when they persistently report late or inaccurately.

Always check at the pump

Prices can change at any time. The price at the pump is the one you pay.

Who runs FuelWatchNI

FuelWatchNI is run by F Brennan, an individual in Northern Ireland. It is not a company.
Contact: info@fuelwatchni.co.uk