Petrol and diesel price cuts not passed to customers, RAC says

Auto group RAC is urging retailers to cut prices at the pump by 5p a litre — to 150p, to reflect the drop in wholesale costs.

As it stands the government’s 5p duty cut brought in shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year is not benefitting drivers struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis and, instead appears only to be helping retailers who have chosen to up their margins, the group said.

“Our analysis sadly shows that despite the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation confirming drivers were being ripped off at the pumps – something we have been saying for years – and the government acting on the findings, nothing has changed," said RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams.

"Drivers are still losing out massively when wholesale prices come down. But in Northern Ireland where the supermarkets don’t dominate fuel retailing drivers are getting fairer deal with a litre of unleaded costing 150p and diesel 157p – 5p less than the UK average."

RAC data shows the big four supermarkets’ margin on petrol has been around 14p this month compared to an average of 7p so far this year. This is up from just 3.4p for the whole of 2019.

Read more: Why petrol and diesel prices do not fall with oil prices

“Drivers and, indeed, the Treasury should be furious that the 5p-a-litre duty cut, which has been in place since the end of March 2022 is not being passed on at forecourts," added Williams.

An Asda spokesperson said the supermarket remains the cheapest place for drivers to fill up across the UK on average adding that it is 3.8ppl cheaper on unleaded and 4ppl cheaper on diesel than the UK average.

"Asda is proud to be a fuel price leader – and the CMA report into the fuel market found that an Asda petrol station in a local area keeps prices down for all motorists," they added.

"In support of calls for greater transparency in fuel pricing, Asda was the first retailer to publish the prices at all of our fuel stations so that motorists can be confident they are getting the best prices when filling up at Asda.”

Yahoo Finance contacted other retailers for comment but did not hear back before press time.

Fuel prices have been in focus in recent weeks as the conflict in Israel threatens to spill into the Middle East, a key oil-producing region.

Brent crude prices dipped last week — also put under pressure by the "higher for longer" stance the US Federal Reserve has taken on interest rates.

Watch: Petrol prices 'likely' to rise further as cost of oil jumps