That's the thing with gas prices.
On the one hand, it is indisputably good for the climate if fewer cars are driven due to high fuel prices.
On the other hand, people get annoyed when they suddenly have to pay a lot more at the gas station for the same amount of fuel.
It is therefore good for the Federal Cartel Office to take a quick look to see whether the price increases at the beginning of the Ukraine war were all right.
This is also important because it is at least quite possible that similar effects will occur again in the course of an oil embargo against Russia.
Even then, domestic refineries could step in for missing deliveries from Russia and demand more money for it.
If mineral oil companies secure a higher margin through anti-competitive behavior, you can't let that get away with it.
But of course the presumption of innocence also applies to the oil companies.
The latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office now at least suggest that the behavior of drivers is reacting somewhat to the high prices.
It's all still a bit uncertain;
the experience of the past few years shows that prices have to go up quite a bit for that to happen.
The so-called price elasticity of demand, which describes how petrol sales react to price increases, tends to be low in the short term.
But completely resigned to fate, the German driver does not seem to accept everything.