Three California residents have filed a class action lawsuit against major fuel retailers—including 7-Eleven, Speedway, Circle K, bp, Marathon Petroleum Corp., Walmart and Albertsons—claiming they've been using algorithmic software to artificially inflate gas prices throughout the state.
- 7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2026 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Circle K is No. 2, bp is No. 5, EG America is No. 6.
“Californians are being forced to pay surcharges that cannot be explained by crude oil costs, refining costs, environmental regulation or taxes,” according to the class action lawsuit, which was filed June 22 in the Sacramento division of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
The complaint alleges that “part of the cause of California’s astronomical fuel prices is an illegal algorithmic price-fixing scheme orchestrated by the algorithmic pricing company Kalibrate and some of the state’s largest fuel retailers.”
The AI tool comes from Kalibrate, which is also named in the suit. The company is a subsidiary of the U.K.-incorporated Kalibrate Technologies Limited and conducts business in the United States on Kalibrate Technologies Limited’s behalf, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges the gas station operators violated the Cartwright Act, California’s “cornerstone antitrust law.”
California’s Assembly Bill 325, which was signed into law on Oct. 6, 2025, by Gov. Gavin Newsom, makes “pricing algorithms subject to state antitrust law, thereby protecting consumers from price increases and false scarcity generated through unlawful collusion,” according to an October statement from the governor's office.
“The bill makes explicit that the prohibition on fixing prices under the Cartwright Act extends to the use of such algorithms,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said Kalibrate's fuel pricing software is “an algorithmic, AI-based pricing system that connects directly to gas stations’ pumps and signs. Instead of lowering prices to attract drivers, Kalibrate Fuel Pricing relies on the data of competing gas stations to coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers throughout the state.”
The lawsuit said the gas station defendants have “replaced independent, competitive pricing with a coordinated, automated mechanism that relies on sensitive competitor data and a conscious decision to ensure that prices remain artificially high.”
As of June 2026, the price spread between California and the rest of the United States has widened, the lawsuit said.
Californians are “paying a premium of approximately $1.68 per gallon above the national average,” the lawsuit said.
Defendants also included 10 “unidentified gasoline fuel retail companies operating in the state of California,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages for California drivers who were allegedly overcharged at the pump.
CSP reached out to the major gas station operators and Kalibrate for comment but did not receive a reply by press time. Walmart said in an emailed statement to CSP that it was reviewing the complaint and would "respond appropriately to the court."
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