Petrol falls below 145p a litre for first time in 18 months

16th May 2023

The average price of petrol has fallen below 145p a litre for the first time in 18 months, according to the latest data from RAC Fuel Watch.

The price of a litre of unleaded dropped to 144.95p on Sunday 14 May – its lowest price since 3 November 2021.

Diesel also dipped below 155p a litre by hitting 154.31p on Sunday, taking it to its lowest since 28 February 2022. This means the cost of a filling a 55-litre family car with petrol is now under £80 (£79.72) while a tank of diesel has reduced to below £85 (£84.87).

Since peaking at 191.5p on 3 July 2022, petrol has fallen by 47p a litre (46.55p) saving drivers £25.60 every time they fill up (£105.32 to £79.72). Diesel, which reached an all-time high of 199.09p on 25 June, has fallen 45p (44.78p) saving drivers £24.62 a tank.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Seeing the price of unleaded fall back under 145p a litre for the first time in 18 months is good news for the country’s 19m petrol car drivers. This means it’s now nearly £26 cheaper to fill up a family-sized petrol car this summer compared to last year when a litre hit the record price of 191.5p.

“While it’s good news diesel has also dropped below 155p a litre for this first time since the end of February last year, drivers of the UK’s 12m diesel cars and countless businesses who rely it to fuel their vehicles, should be paying 20p a litre less as its wholesale price is now 4p lower than petrol’s. This is being demonstrated very powerfully by one independent retailer in Shropshire who is currently charging 131.9p – more than 22p below the UK average. We hope this finally embarrasses the country’s biggest retailers to cut their pump prices significantly.

“As petrol is down 47p a litre since early July last year, it is now only a few pence a litre above the long-standing record high of 142.48p which was set in April 2012 and only surpassed in late October 2021. And if diesel were being priced fairly by major retailers it would actually be well under its long-standing 2012 high of 147.93p.

“With the delivered wholesale prices of both petrol and diesel at 110p and 105p respectively, drivers should be paying no more than 142p and 137p, and that’s factoring in an above-average 10p-a-litre retailer margin.”

How much do you spend on petrol or diesel when you visit the pumps? Are you paying too much? Leave your comments below.