Is the trend in fuel prices now finally reversed? Data shows the first significant drop in diesel and petrol prices for over a year, as well as the wholesale cost drops.
- In the past week, diesel and petrol prices fell by about half a cent each
- In November 2020, there was an abrupt drop in this amount.
- One year ago unleaded cost a half penny less at 114p. This is 33p more than today
- After oil prices fell $10, motoring associations urged retailers not to raise their prices.
- According to the AA prices are high due to an absence of a war on Christmas retail fuel prices in 2021.
After five weeks of record high fuel costs, the national motorists saw the first “significant” drop in average pump prices.
The average price of petrol dropped by half a penny to 147.28 per litre, while diesel fell to 150.64p.
Last week, petrol prices dropped by the same amount on forecourts. This was November 2020. Unleaded was at 114p per gallon – about 33p more than it is now.
According to the AA’s, there is no Christmas market that has ‘fuel prices war’ yet in 2021. Asda was traditionally the first retailer to cut costs.
Is it finally possible for fuel prices to fall? Portable diesel generator users have seen diesel and petrol have dropped by half a dollar in the week just before. This was the last time that drivers saw such a drop in petrol and diesel prices. It happened early November 2020.
On Tuesday, the average price of petrol dropped to 147.28p a litre and diesel fell to 150.64p
After months of steady increases, drivers across the nation have been asking for the pump price to drop after the record nine-year high of petrol and diesel at the end October.
UK’s new record price for unleaded in the UK is now 147.72p a litre. It was set 21 November. Diesel prices were at record levels on November 20, when they reached an average of 151.10p.
Motoring organizations have called on the retailers to reduce costs for cash-strapped drivers, despite the fact that oil prices fell by $10 per barrel on Friday due to concerns over the Omicron variant.
According to the AA’s wholesale price report, fuel company prices had dropped in November. Yet retailers prevented these savings from reaching customers.
Retailers’ wholesale gasoline costs dropped to 49p last week, after they had soared above 54.5p per-litre in the first week of November. They also saw yesterday’s price drop to below 43p/litre.
This means that retailers may have been able to offer fuel prices cuts up to 12p/litre over the past few days, but instead have kept sky high fuel costs.
According to the AA prices are high because there has not been a Christmas market ‘fuel pricing war’ yet in 2021. ASDA was traditionally the first to bring down retail prices.
This week, motoring associations called for the Government’s intervention to investigate why retail outlets have not cut their forecourt pricing in order to lower wholesale costs. The RAC stated that the industry is ‘living upto the worst rocket-and feather behavior’, and as a consequence, ‘losing any credibility with drivers.
According to the AA, the traditional ‘fuel prices war’ between supermarkets – in which the four majors cut pump prices to lure shoppers to their stores in December – is not occurring in 2021. This contributes to high fuel costs.
“It’s been such a dramatic decline in petrol and diesel wholesale prices, that a drop in pump prices is inevitable.” According to Luke Bosdet (AA’s Fuel Price Spokesman), “It’s taken so much longer than it has been over the past years.”
“Aside from the fact that there has been no movement in pump prices despite a fortnight’s worth of declining wholesale costs, what stands out most is the failure of supermarkets to take the initiative like they did in the past.
“Previously, before moving on to other things the market would wait for Asda or Morrisons to announce a price reduction.
“Without the initial boost, the pump price has stagnated. This is potentially alarming if the trend continues in the future.
‘In basic pounds, shillings and pence, if a supermarket makes a big deal about discounts of £2 or £3 off the shopping bill but grabs back £2 to £3 per tank by not passing on savings at the pump, the consumer needs to factor that in.
“Under the hood, the vast majority of non-supermarket forecourts are very pleased to have me along.
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