Big retailers are keeping fuel costs higher despite fall in price of petrol, RAC says

Drivers will be denied a further 10p/litre petrol price cut as major retailers increase profit margins, the RAC says.

The average price of a gallon of unleaded in the UK fell nearly 7p to 162.9p last month as oil and wholesale fuel prices plummeted, it said.

This was the sixth largest monthly drop in the average gasoline price since 2000, but the drop should have been much deeper, the auto group said, with major fuel retailers cashing in on extra prices by not passing savings on to hard-up motorists.

Filling a medium-sized petrol family car with a 55-litre tank in September dropped below £90 for the first time in four months.

This means that since unleaded prices hit a record 191.53 pence in the UK on 3 July, almost 29 pence (28.64 pence) has been extracted from a litre, a saving of £15.75 per tank, the RAC calculated. .

However, there has not been the same level of reduction in fuel costs for diesel owners.

One liter less in September, but only by 3.5 pence, to end the month at 180.16 pence.

While this is 19p cheaper than the all-time high of 199.09p on June 25, it is over 17p more expensive than unleaded.

The cost of filling a 55-litre fuel tank with diesel fell by £10.41 last month to a fraction of less than £100 (£99.09) – something drivers haven’t seen since late May.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said drivers have been cut short by major fuel retailers and should have seen a ‘much bigger drop’ in pump prices as the wholesale price of petrol delivered was around 120 pence all month.

“This means that gas stations across the country should have displayed prices of around 152 pence as the long-term margin on unleaded is 7 pence per litre,” he said.

Typically, the RAC says that retailers pocket an average of about 7 pence per litre.

However, margins in September are much higher than that.

“Data from RAC Fuel Watch shows margins are around 17p per liter – a massive 10p more than normal,” Williams added.

The Petrol Retailers Association, which represents independent service stations in the UK, said service stations are being forced to keep their fuel prices higher to cover higher operating costs.

“To stay in business, fuel retailers have faced increased operating costs due to a 40-year high inflation and these need to be covered, hence the need for higher fuel margins. An example is the tripling of energy costs for companies because there was no price cap,” explains Gordon Balmer, executive director of the PRA.

“We welcome the government’s recently announced support for corporate energy bills, but this is only for six months.

“The PRA has lobbied the government to express the need for support beyond six months, as forecourts are crucial to the continued functioning of the UK economy.”

Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign, responded to the RAC’s report criticizing the Chancellor for not introducing further fuel tax cuts to help motorists stung by ‘opportunistic profiteers in the fuel supply chain’.

He said: ‘At FairFuelUK we estimate that between 10 and 20 p-per-litre of wholesale falls have not been passed on to drivers.

Not only has Kwasi Kwarteng not dropped the fuel tax in its mini-budget, which would have pleased the world’s most taxed motorists, lowered inflation, boosted GDP and alleviated the cost of living crisis, as it did before. chancellors, he allows the fuel supply chain to continue abusing drivers.

“It is a thing of the past and indeed immortal that no independent PumpWatch agency has been put in place to protect 37 million drivers from this eternal pursuit of profit.”

The RAC’s Fuel Watch report in September found that motorists in the East Midlands saw petrol prices fall the slowest this month, at just 5.93 pence per litre. This compares to the biggest drop of 7.91 pa-litres in London, with the capital now cheaper to fill up with unleaded fuel than the East Midlands region.

Supermarkets may not always be the cheapest option

Supermarkets are also not helping the drivers’ cause, the RAC said.

Normally the big four – Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – charge about 3.5 pence per liter less than the UK average. However, the current difference is only about 1.5 pence cheaper.

“While there are no rules about what retailers can charge for their fuel, the fact remains that supermarkets are extremely influential in setting average UK pump prices as they sell so much fuel,” said Mr Williams.

“But as many drivers will have noted, there are many smaller gas stations that now sell much cheaper fuel than the supermarkets.

“We urge everyone to look for the best deals instead of just assuming the supermarkets are the lowest because they’ve been in the past.”

Morrisons is currently running a discount of 5 cents per liter for customers who spend £40 in-store.

‘You usually only see this kind of promotion when supermarkets take advantage of lower wholesale prices. offering discounted fuel to customers who spend a certain amount in-store,” said Mr Williams.