- Drivers being denied fairer prices
by excessive 15p-a-litre supermarket margins
- ‘Remarkable lack of competition’
among supermarkets over fuel prices
Amid the worst cost-of-living crisis in four decades drivers are
being denied cheaper fuel by the UK’s biggest retailers refusing
to lower their forecourt prices to reflect far lower wholesale
costs.
In a shocking example of ‘rocket and feather’ pricing RAC Fuel
Watch data shows supermarkets are currently enjoying margins of
around 15p a litre on both petrol and diesel while hard-pressed
drivers have to fork out for petrol at an unnecessarily high
average price of 160.96p and 184.41p for diesel – which is only
2p lower than the UK average of 163.24p for unleaded and 3p lower
for diesel (187.42p).
If the supermarkets were to be taking a lower average margin of
10p a litre on both fuels, they would be selling petrol for 152p
and diesel for 173p – around 9p less for petrol than they are
currently and 11p less for diesel.
The price of delivered wholesale unleaded hit 130p a litre in
mid-October while diesel rose to nearly 158p, however since then
prices have reduced significantly – petrol has dropped by 13p to
117p and diesel by 22p to 136p* – yet the biggest retailers
haven’t been reducing their forecourt prices to the same extent.
The average price of diesel bought at a supermarket has only
fallen 3p a litre from 187.54p on Halloween to 184.41p while
petrol has only gone down 4.4p from 165.36p to 160.96p.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “With many people
struggling to put fuel in their cars it’s very sad to see the
biggest fuel retailers taking advantage of their customers by
charging far higher prices than they should be. This is
unfortunately a perfect example of prices falling like a feather,
the opposite of them rocketing up as soon as the wholesale price
rises significantly.
“The supermarkets dominate UK fuel retailing, primarily because
they have traditionally sold petrol and diesel at lower prices
due to the large volumes they sell, but sadly there is now a
remarkable lack of competition among the four main players which
means prices are far higher than they should be. If one of the
supermarkets were to lead a round of price cuts, the others would
follow suit which, in turn, would bring the average price of fuel
down for the benefit of drivers everywhere. As it stands, there
are smaller, independent forecourts offering more competitive
prices than supermarkets so drivers should shop around.
“Asda has traditionally been the most aggressive supermarket on
fuel prices, but while it’s still the cheapest of the big four,
it seems far less keen to lower prices in a falling wholesale
market than it has been in the past.
“We urge the supermarkets to do the right thing by their
customers and cut prices by at least 5p a litre immediately. But,
if events of this time last year are anything to go by drivers
might be in for some pre-Christmas disappointment because despite
similar margins in 2021 the supermarkets failed to cut their
prices significantly. The big difference this year, of course, is
that petrol is on average 16p a litre more expensive (147.27p on
18 November 2021) and diesel is an unbelievable 37p dearer
(150.66p on 18 November 2021).”
Find out more about UK petrol
and diesel prices on the RAC website.
Ends
Notes to Editors
* Average delivered wholesale prices for week ending 18 November
2022
