Fall in fuel prices should have been greater, RAC argues

Date: 05 December 2022   |   Author: Sean Keywood

According to the RAC, this compares with an 11p fall in the wholesale price of petrol during the month, which came on top of a significant decline in late October, while the wholesale cost of diesel fell by 15p during November.

The RAC believe petrol and diesel should now be priced at 146p per litre and 169p per litre respectively.

RAC spokesperson Simon Williams said: "In ten years of closely monitoring fuel prices we have never seen major retailer margins this high for this long. It used to be the case before the pandemic that we'd see wholesale prices drop by 4p a litre and then the supermarkets would be vying with one another to announce a price cut to drive customers into their stores.

"This sadly seems to be a thing of the past as nowadays they appear to be hanging on to massive margins for dear life. This is to the detriment of everyone because, of course, other retailers won't be encouraged to reduce their prices meaning the UK average stays artificially high.

"We have more sympathy for smaller retailers that don't buy new stock as often as their larger competitors and need larger margins to stay afloat - to their considerable credit, some have lowered their prices drastically, undercutting the supermarkets by a huge amount. We've had reports of independent retailers selling petrol for as little as 140p a litre which is 18p lower than the supermarket average."

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