Petrol prices in the UK stayed at 145p per litre (ppl) for a second consecutive month in July, leading to criticism of retailers by one motoring service.
The average cost of petrol was 144.76ppl, and for diesel it was 149.8ppl, according to the RAC’s Fuel Watch data for July.
Despite the prices remaining the same for drivers, the difference in the wholesale prices retailers are paying compared to what they charge is growing.
Last month, the average margin was 13ppl for unleaded petrol, a rise of 3p on the month before, and 14.5p for diesel.
With the long-term average in margins adding up to 8p, motorists should be paying 140p for petrol and 142p for diesel, but are instead paying 3p and 8p more than they ought to.
This adds up to an extra £2.75 on a full tank for petrol and £4.40 for diesel.
While the average prices charged by the top four supermarket suppliers are 3p below the average of the UK, there is a vast disparity in what’s charged on the most expensive and cheapest forecourts.
The worst offender in this regard was Asda, which has an 18.2p difference between its most expensive and cheapest pump prices. Tesco represented the smallest gap for petrol, claiming a 7p difference.
For diesel, the prices were higher across the board for pumps at Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Asda holds the largest range of prices
Again, Asda had the biggest range with a 21.2p difference and Tesco the lowest with a 12p difference to fill up your diesel-powered vehicle.
The retailer was also the only supermarket that did not provide a full month’s worth of prices to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) voluntary data scheme, which monitors pricing on UK forecourts.
Indeed, the retail giant only gave 12 days of data for its 665 forecourts in July – the lowest number of the 14 retailers involved in the scheme.
YourMoney.com contacted Asda for comment on its data release and is awaiting a response.
To give drivers in the UK – who are charged the most for petrol in Europe – a chance of securing the best price to fill up their motor, a Government-backed ‘Pumpwatch’ scheme is to be launched.
This will be real-time fuel price data available on comparison websites, navigation apps and in-car devices.
In its third update on fuel costs last month, the CMA found that drivers paid £1.6bn too much for their fuel due to what it described as “outrageous” profit margins.
The picture may look bleak for drivers in England, Scotland and Wales after a year of hikes led to a 150ppl average price being reached, but in Northern Ireland, drivers continue to bag a fairer deal, says the RAC.
Motorists in Northern Ireland pay 5p and 8p less for petrol and diesel than the rest of the UK, as retailers there opt against making excessive profit.
‘Nothing has changed as drivers lose out’
Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, believes the fuel costs for July are “disappointing”.
Williams said: “With our analysis clearly showing margins are still significantly above the long-term average, it seems like nothing has changed and drivers continue to lose out despite all the ongoing scrutiny from the CMA and the Government.
“Coupled with this, the wholesale fuel market is trending lower due to the price of oil falling by $6 to around $80 at the end of July. This in itself ought to lead to lower prices at the pumps but, as the CMA made clear in its report, competition in fuel retailing is extremely weak.
“As a result, we sadly can’t see pump prices reducing much further without retailers acting on what the CMA is saying and finally introducing some much-needed fairer pricing strategies.”
The price of fuel skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with wholesale costs of oil coming to around $110 per barrel.
Williams noted that the 145p price mark “must be incredibly galling… to see” for drivers in the UK.
He added: “The introduction of the Government’s Pumpwatch scheme can’t come soon enough, and neither can the setting-up of the official price monitoring body, so long as the latter has the power to clamp down on retailers who consistently overcharge.”
