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Diesel prices falling, but should come down further, RAC says

Date: Monday, December 5, 2022   |   Author: Sean Keywood

According to the RAC, this compares with a 15p fall in the wholesale price of the fuel, which it says should now be priced at 169p per litre by filling stations.

The organisation also believes petrol prices, which fell during the month from 165.96p to 159.88p per litre, should come down to 146p.

RAC spokesperson Simon Williams said: “In ten years of closely monitoring fuel prices we have never seen major retailer margins this high for this long. It used to be the case before the pandemic that we’d see wholesale prices drop by 4p a litre and then the supermarkets would be vying with one another to announce a price cut to drive customers into their stores.

“This sadly seems to be a thing of the past as nowadays they appear to be hanging on to massive margins for dear life. This is to the detriment of everyone because, of course, other retailers won’t be encouraged to reduce their prices meaning the UK average stays artificially high.

“We have more sympathy for smaller retailers that don’t buy new stock as often as their larger competitors and need larger margins to stay afloat – to their considerable credit, some have lowered their prices drastically, undercutting the supermarkets by a huge amount. We’ve had reports of independent retailers selling petrol for as little as 140p a litre which is 18p lower than the supermarket average.”