Fuel prices fell 9p a litre in December 2022, saving motorists £5 a tank – but the RAC says petrol and diesel is still too expensive due to lower wholesale costs.
Petrol prices fell by 8.4p to 151p a litre, while diesel fell 9.4p to 173.9p a litre.
One of the big four supermarkets went even further, cutting petrol prices by 10p to 147.7p a litre, and diesel by 11.4p to 170.2p a litre.
However, wholesale fuel prices have been falling considerably since October, according to RAC Fuel Watch data.
Even allowing for a generous 10p a litre retailer margin – that’s 3p more than average – petrol should now cost 140p a litre, while diesel should cost 160p a litre.
It means motorists are paying 11p more than they should for a litre of petrol, and 14p more for diesel.
Fairer deal
“For weeks, we’ve been calling on the big four supermarkets to cut their prices more substantially to give drivers a fairer deal when they fill up,” said RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams.
Fuel prices are “still nowhere near where they should be given the scale of the drop in wholesale prices”.
Notably, in December, business secretary Grant Shapps wrote to fuel retailers urging them to make sure savings are passed on to consumers.
“We hope the business secretary’s intervention just before Christmas puts more pressure on larger retailers to do the right thing,” said Williams.
He added that in Europe, fuel prices are considerably cheaper than in the UK – petrol costs an average of 144p a litre, and diesel is 152p a litre.
“When compared to the 27 EU countries we currently have the second most expensive diesel and the sixth most expensive petrol.”
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