The prices of unleaded petrol and diesel both dipped during May to prices not seen for at least a year.
Petrol fell to an average price of 144.5p per litre on May 14, its lowest price since November 2021. Diesel dropped to 154.3p on the same day, a price not seen since February 28 last year, before the effects of the outbreak of war in the Ukraine had been felt.
The highest price petrol has reached at the pumps is 191.5p in July 2022. By falling 47p per litre since then, drivers filling up an average family sized car now save £25.60 every time they go to the pumps compared to a year ago. Diesel hit a record high of 199.9p in June 2022.
“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 19 million petrol car drivers”, said Simon Williams, fuel spokesman for the RAC. “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.”
A recent road fuel market study by the Competitions and Markets Authority has revealed that the increase in fuel prices was not wholly attributable to the war in Ukraine or factors outside the control of retailers.
