Fuel costs reach record highs every day for past month

Although the price of fuel has been consistently rising in recent months – the month of June has seen a day-by-day increase in the cost of diesel and petrol – adding to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, prices have consistently risen, despite intervention from the government as part of the 5p fuel duty cut – however, it has made little impact on the cost of diesel and petrol.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “The cost of petrol and diesel both rose to new records again on Wednesday with the average price of unleaded topping 187p a litre and diesel 193p (193.30p). Full tanks now cost just under £103 (£102.86) for petrol and £106.32 for diesel.

“Average prices at the big four supermarkets, where fuel is traditionally the cheapest, are now 182.64p for petrol and 190.10p for diesel.

“Albeit in response to dramatic increases on the wholesale market over the last few weeks, the fuel retailing giants have raised the price of unleaded by 12p since the start of the month and diesel by almost 10p which has naturally led to a similar trend being seen with average prices around the UK.

“Fortunately, there was a 2p a litre reduction in the cost of wholesale petrol on Wednesday which could signal prices finally stabilising at the pumps. But much depends on wholesale prices remaining at a similar level for several days, or even falling.

“The wholesale price of diesel, however, continues to rise which will no doubt speed up its journey towards an average of £2 a litre. While, positively, the oil price retreated below $120 for the first time since late May, sterling sank to its weakest point since the start of the pandemic which is not good news as fuel is traded in dollars.”

Earlier this week, the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng urged the UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to conduct an ‘urgent review’ of the fuel market over whether the 5p fuel duty cut is being passed onto drivers.

The CMA is currently conducting a review into the prices of diesel and petrol – with an announcement expected in a few weeks.

Following the revelation that prices have continued to grow over the past month, the RAC have urged the government to do more to tackle the issue.

Williams commented: “We are struggling to understand why the Government refuses to talk about further intervention to help drivers. Other countries across Europe are clearly taking the situation more seriously as many have reduced duty further than we have, while some such as Spain have even worked with the fuel industry to introduce a 20-cent discount on the final forecourt bill.”

To keep up to date with the latest price of petrol and diesel, check out RAC Fuel Watch.

The need for government intervention grew further yesterday, as prices increased once again.

Williams said: “Petrol and diesel prices continued their stratospheric rises on Thursday with the average cost of unleaded reaching 187.51p and diesel 194.17p, making the cost of filling a 55-litre family car £103.13 and £106.79 respectively. However, we’re hopeful that the scale of the recent increases is at last slowing and we’d expect the largest retailers who buy fuel most frequently to stop the pump price rot and even look at reducing their prices soon to reflect the fact they’ve been benefiting from lower wholesale costs over the last week.”