70 gas stations will answer for abusive fuel price increases, news outlet G1 reported on Monday (Sept 21). The cases were opened by Senacon, the National Consumer Secretariat, Brazil's federal consumer protection agency inside the Ministry of Justice. For the average driver, the message is blunt: the government believes part of the price paid at the pump has no explanation in costs.
Each station under investigation faces fines of up to 14 million reais, the ceiling set by Brazil's Consumer Defense Code (CDC), the main law covering relations between companies and customers in the country. That is more money than most Brazilians earn in a lifetime of work. According to G1, the inspections behind the cases took place at stations in Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, São Paulo and Paraná.
In part of the inspected stations, Senacon found profit margins above 70%. The agency says abusive margin increases were detected in seven states, with similar complaints on record in 15 more. On Friday (Sept 18), the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), which regulates the sector, said it had received about 330 complaints of possible abusive price hikes and shared the data to support the inspections.
What counts as an abusive price increase
For Senacon, an abusive price increase is a hike with no justification compatible with costs or market conditions. The profit margin is the gap between what a station pays for the fuel and what it charges for it. In simple terms, a 70% margin is like a grocery store buying a sack of rice for 50 reais and selling it for 85.
What happens next
Senacon has not disclosed which 70 stations are involved, nor the prices they charged or the gap from their purchase costs. An emergency meeting with consumer protection agencies from across the country is set for Tuesday (Sept 22) to coordinate joint inspections. A survey by Atlas Público, a website that tracks official acts, also records two Senacon cases opened the same day against the companies Ale Combustíveis and Larco for price increases without justification.
G1 also reported that federal police are running an operation in Rio de Janeiro against a group suspected of using gas stations to launder money for organized crime. It will now be up to Senacon to conclude the administrative cases and, if violations are proven, apply the penalties set by the CDC.