RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Fractional falls of
under a penny a litre in the average price of both petrol and
diesel over the course of a week when wholesale prices have
plummeted are an irremovable stain on major retailers'
reputations.
"It's frightening to think this is going on under the nose of the
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Whatever the situation
is with the issue it has identified with refining margins, there
is still a wholesale price and a retail price – and the gap in
between is retailer margin. When this grows significantly, it
should always be a cause for concern as it's a sign drivers are
being taken for a ride.
"Just this weekend there have been queues to buy more fairly
priced fuel at wholesaler Costco in Manchester and a major
supermarket running a fuel discount promotion – both signs that
petrol and diesel are substantially overpriced.
"Independent retailers' claims that the CMA's report 'exonerated'
them is interesting to say the least when recent analysis of
wholesale and average retail price data tells a very different
story.
"The weekly wholesale price of petrol has fallen by 12p a litre
over the last six weeks. Last week it averaged just 140.5p so
it's very wrong that drivers are still paying 190.65p across the
UK. When factoring in a generous 10p a litre retailer margin and
20% VAT the cost of a litre should be around 181p. While the
CMA's review concluded that retailer margins are only a
relatively small component of the pump price at around 10p a
litre, it's worrying to see margins are currently averaging
closer to 15p."
|
Date
|
Average petrol price
|
Average diesel price
|
|
09/07/2022
|
190.55
|
198.68
|
|
10/07/2022
|
190.65
|
198.42
|
