Save even more on fuel on National Lift Share Day

Transition town Leamington, not just Transport but Fuel storage (eg Cambridge Crude battery) and Security (eg IP v.6 Cisco for distributed power, home security). Also helping pioneers on Land Trusts. I help the Food Chain factor with Community Supported Agric and Cob Ovens.

It's time to end our addiction to oil and here's how we can do it:

A Twelve-Step Plan to End Oil Addiction (courtesy of The Oil Drum)

1. Stop deluding ourselves. The era of cheap, readily-available oil has ended. Prices may fluctuate, but the underlying trend is up, up, up. We have to get used to using less.

2. Demand that politicians take the issue seriously. Make it an election issue. Don't take 'we've got everything under control' as an answer.

3. Stop building new roads. They're a monumental waste of money, time and effort. They encourage, rather than ease congestion and besides, the growth in car travel that's used to justify them isn't going to happen anyway.

4. Divert that money and effort into measures that address the challenges of oil depletion and climate change.

5. Make a major investment in public transport. It needs to be better, faster, more comfortable, more regular and more predictable. It needs to cater for everyone, not just peak-hour commuters though they need a better service as well.

6. Make a major investment in broadband internet to allow more people to work from home and change tax and business practices that discourage working from home. The more car trips we can avoid, the better.

7. Electrify transport where possible. We should be electrifying commuter rail where it is not already electric and using light rail (trams) in the cities. On the other end of the scale, electric bikes and scooters can make a big difference in our cities. And electric cars show promise, though there's a lot of questions to be answered yet.

8. Don't use cars unless there's no alternative. Take the bus. Take the train. Switch to a scooter. Walk or cycle - both your wallet and your doctor will thank you.

9. Deal with other aspects of our oil dependence. Agriculture, for example, is highly dependent on oil. We're going to need to change the way we grow and distribute food. Let's get to work on that now, not wait until supermarket shelves start to empty.

10. Stockpile or manufacture vital products currently imported from overseas. When oil runs short, will that still be possible? Let's take stock now and work out what we may need to start stockpiling or making (again) in the UK.

11. Think local. Ending our oil addiction isn't just up to central government, though it can play its part. Communities can work together to make themselves more resilient. Join or start a Transition Towns group in your local area.

12. Accept reality. The age of cheap oil is over. It's not coming back. As individuals and as a nation, we have to adapt.

There is a campaign ongoing which entails not buying pertrol etc from the big three. That is Esso, BP and Shell. If their profits go to the wall they will have to bring down their prices and others will follow suite

The authorities are charging VAT on Fuel Duty. Duty is charged on many iitems and follows the same trend. To charge VAT on duty is in fact charging tax on the tax we pay as duty, therefor we are paying tax on tax as it were. What this boils down to is paying VAT (Value Added tAX) on something we get nothing for. We are paying tax on nothing in physical effect so there is no value involved and VAT is not appropriate. Removing this unfair tax would bring petrol down to 96.04p and 57.19p of this would be duty. A further 5p can be for delivery to the garage. Somebody should be in prison for extortion.

Oil prices have recently DROPPED? They're at an 18-month high! What crack brand is he smoking and where can I get it?

I wish I'd invested in oil during 2009's price collapse. I'd have doubled my return by now.

Government ruthless Tax ... I just rang Morrisons to find out the price of their fuel since it is different in different towns - and they said quote
"It is 116.9 at the moment but we have been told to increase the tax on it so that it is 120.9 - when I asked him why - he said he didn't know especially as Oil prices have recently dropped !

Out with this Government once and for all...!

Now its £1.26 per litre and we are still letting them get away with it, whats wrong with this country NO GUTS

So the General Election is about to be called.
A lot of votes could be won by the party that pledges to freeze fuel duty and the VAT on fuel for their entire term of office. 100/1
Or, introduce the Fuel Duty Stabiliser.50/1.
Or, they could say that it will be business as usual and raise fuel duty twice a year at the budget. 1000/1. They won't say this, because it will cost them votes, but they'll do it anyway.

The good news, though, is I see the oil price coming down from any price spike in the near future (we're up to $86 a barrel now, a 17-month high).

The bad news is, the spike will diappear precisely because our economy's supposed rebound gets killed from the get go by raising energy costs. We're testing the limits each time the globe recovers, and these limits will get ever lower as our economy gets weaker with each bang against the price ceiling (imagine how bad it will be this year if we repeat the spike of 2008 in oil, which easily killed off such massive growth we had. It won't take much to turn that around now).

So, we are now being attacked from three sides; taxation, lower pound value and rising oil price. I dread to think what the price of unleaded will be in 2 weeks time.

Btw, was looking around Google streetview the other day, so the evidence is there. A year ago, my local Esso station had u/l at 92.9 and diesel at 100.9 and further back the differential was 12ppl. Today, at the same station, prices are 120.9 for both fuels. What has happened over the last 12 months to close the gap?

I should add that regardless of who you vote in come May, they will inherit the same decrepit system that has been rotting since at least the '70s. It is no single administration's fault, but the people certainly didn't mind voting them in to keep business as usual going that bit longer. Apparently you can't run a country off debt and financial instruments alone, nor is living from credit card to credit card a sustainable model.

And now everyone on the street who failed highschool economics is about to get a reality check. It sucks, but that's just too bad. Maybe people can actually take some responsibility and live within their means (I earn less than £20k, have no debt and own no credit cards, plus I rent, because the baby boomers made my chances of being able to afford a mortgage impossible).

So far, though, all I see is a load of disillusioned whiners on a blog complaining about matters they don't fully understand. It's a Greek tragedy. Not to worry. Our brethren in the US, Germany, Ireland and Greece will be joining us in the downward slope very soon, if not, sooner.

One last tip: learn Mandarin.

Mark Pruden: Sure, they can drive a 4X4, but they better enjoy paying far more for that privilege (and it _is_ a privilege, not a right, to drive a gas guzzler).

But I suppose the entitlement generation believes that, even in an era of fast dwindling fossil fuel energy, they should be allowed to squander such a precious resource on driving stupidly large penís compensation vehicles to the local store for a snack or to drop the kids off round the block at school.

Also, whining about tax increases is hilarious. Guess what? The country is insolvent virtually. We can stop the tax increases immediately by having a debt jubilee and basically wipe the slate clean. Enjoy trying to buy anything with the worthless currency you call sterling if you go that route, though. The rest of the world will simply deem the UK uninvestable, and if you think it sucks now, try hyperinflation. You can at least buy groceries still now without using all your savings to buy a loaf of bread, a la Weimar Republic style.

我只是不懂，为什么我们这些司机受到处罚。

well i just dont understand, why is it we, the motorist are penalised. why should we have to pay through the nose,for vehicle tax and petrol. because you like to drive a car of your choice.

if someone wants to drive a 4x4 does it matter. if they enjoy it let them. it seems to me. its about jealousy.

ok, Budget has yet again increased our misery in this financial economy; why oh why do us Brits just moan about and yet still carry on paying it .......

We put the Government into post and have the perfect chance now to stand up and take action, it is time we stood together as a nation and showed that we are not just a country of moaners but a country of action

Did you know that 5% of the unleaded you buy is Bio-ethanol from renewable sources

Did you know that Bio-ethanol costs 14p per litre more than unleaded per litre ?

Did you know that the government has been subsidising this Bio-ethanol so that it has been introduced without a price rise ? Until now !!

As from 1st April 2010 this subsidy will be removed adding 0.7p per litre plus VAT = 0.823p

As from 1st April 2010 fuel duty will increase by 1 pence per litre + VAT = 1.175pence.

Therefore ignoring the cost of oil and the low value of the pound, the cost of a litre of Unleaded will increase on 1st April by 1.998 pence per litre.

But we can't ignore the low value of the £ against the $ as it has reached its lowest point for a year at $1.4913 and the cost of a barrel has reached $80.28

This equates to

Cost of 1 litre unleaded = 40.262 pence
Duty on 1 Litre unleaded = 57.19 pence
VAT on 1 litre unleaded @ £1.199 = 17.86 pence

This leaves a profit margin of 3.905pence (excl VAT) per litre to share between the fuel suppliers and the Petrol station

Summary

Government take per Litre = 75.05 pence
Petrol station take per Litre = 2.00 pence
Supplier take per Litre = 1.90 pence
Cost of productpe Litre = 40.262 pence

So who's ripping who off ?

As per #180 Why don't we boycott the people making a fortune out of petrol - the Government !

Diesel is the same story as above

(When oil reached $147 a barrel the £ was worth $2.10 (25% more) Fuel Duty was 50.35pence per litre ( 6.84 pence less than now or 8.04 pence including VAT)) Do the maths yourselves

180.
Why are people falling for this pyramid e-mail shite?
300 million people????????????????????????????
Theres only 67 million people in Britain of which only 27 million of them drive so where's the other 273 million coming from.
Boycott this boycott that garage. Do the sums first will you or did Shell or Esso want to charge you for air for your tyres and they cheesed you off.

Someone sent the following email to me just today. It has the makings of a plan to help bring fuel prices down, but see what you think:
"The price of oil is as low as it has been for a while, the oil companies have simply jacked their prices up and the government will not do anything as they rake in extra VAT for every increase. See what you think and pass it on if you agree with it.

We are hitting 114.9 a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying 1.50 a ltr. Someone has offered this good idea which makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join in!

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol!
And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP.

If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!
Now, don't wimp out at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ..THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all You have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all.(and not buy at ESSO/BP) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8days!!! Acting together we can make a difference . If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY ALL LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 90p a LITRE RANGE

It's easy to make this happen. Just join this group and get all your FB friends to join or forward as an email to everyone in your address book, and buy your petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Jet etc. i.e.. boycott BP and Esso

well there we go 1 p increase not even a freeze
this shower of robbers will NEVER get my vote

anyine who thinks its great can beat it with them

I like in Glasgow but work in central Scotland. I do 500 miles a week from home to office. A further 500 business miles. When is the goverment and tax office going to raise the allowances that were set years ago. I.E i can only claim 12p per mile to compensate for the fuel and wear and tear on my car. COME ON !!

lets all get together and get the increase we deserve that has been overdue for years and years.....

Oh well it seem petrol prices are going to be at an all time high....and we are taking it laying down....I guess that the grovernment is losing money with all these full efficient cars paying less road tax...

Here we go again. Its down to us to car share because the government are using the motorist again to get them out of the debt they are in. Oil is currently $80 a barrel, nearly half the price it was when the prices were this high about 18 months ago, so, if oil is so cheap why is fuel so expensive? Why is there also a calm about this? No one seems to be as annoyed as they were 18 months ago and it about time to rise up again. Pure rip off.

"AA president Edmund King told the BBC: "We all know government finances are in dire straits but a 3p rise in fuel duty is not good for the economy and could fuel inflation."

He said that the cost of wholesale petrol had risen by 17% in the past month, and this had not yet been passed on fully at the pumps.

Therefore, the average price of petrol could hit £1.20 before 1 April"

*BBC news site*

That is the bit post #174 and sky left out,
thought I would add that before the inevitable onslaught on how garages rip people off on there 2-4ppl gross margins.

Petrol Price Woe For Drivers As Costs Soar

8:00am UK, Tuesday March 16, 2010

James Jordan, Sky News Online
Petrol prices could reach an eye-watering 120p per litre later this year, the AA is warning.


The organisation is claiming that unleaded fuel could even top the price, equivalent to £5.41 a gallon, and Alistair Darling is being urged to delay the introduction of a planned 3p increase in petrol duty due to come in on April 1.

AA president Edmund King said: "The UK is barely out of recession, yet petrol prices threaten to rise to record prices seen during the boom of 2008 - shortly before the collapse into recession.

"If families, drivers on fixed incomes and those on low pay were unable to cope with record prices then, they are even less likely now."

AA research found an average family with two cars is paying £52 a month more to fill up now than a year ago.


Motorists are being legally mugged at the forecourt by petrol companies.
Lindsay Hoyle, Labour MP on the Commons business select committee


The average petrol price in the UK is 115.9p for a litre of unleaded and 116.6p for a litre of diesel.

Even if the 3p increase is withdrawn, the price paid by drivers could soon hit 120p a litre - £5.41 a gallon - according to the organisation.

This would overtake the previous high of 119.7p of July 2008.

The AA said the price increases were caused by the rise in the price of wholesale gasoline since the end of January.

Lindsay Hoyle, the senior Labour MP on the Commons business select committee, said it was "a complete disgrace".

He told the Daily Telegraph: "Yes, crude oil has gone up this year, but nothing like the rise in petrol prices. Motorists are being legally mugged at the forecourt by petrol companies


about time mabye now someone will do soemthing

its 120 here no one will do anything thats the point if eveyone stops going to work then what will they do no back bone in this country

if labouer get back in im going on the dole why not these people get everthing anyway

Can anyone tell me why fuel prices have increased by 3 pence (in my area - Southern England) in one week? Last time I filled up a litre of unleaded was £115.9 but a week on I am seeing £118.9 at the main stations! When is it going to end - the £2.00 barrier will be hit soon and then what? This is a very clever ploy by the Government to reduce the amount of vehicles using the roads. Instead of dealing with the increasing amount of road users and traffic conjestion head-on - they are pricing the poor out of motoring by raising fuel prices hoping that it will reduce numbers of vehicles using the roads. Here's an idea… if we all stopped using the petrol stations for just one day this would have a huge impact on the Governments revenue - if we did it once every week or month then the damage would be catastrophic for the Government. BP stands for - BAN PUMPS…

Come on lets have a new subject to moan about, since this subject started petrol has gone up 25%

I do blame gov tax personaly because they have never reduced it " and I mean EVER ",

WE ARE BEYOND A JOKE AT PRICES TODAY " £1.12 P a litre unleaded and lets not complain about oil companies here there cost is miniscule to the rip off TAX the gov steal " why are people not complaining "?

not around here!

round here petrol prices have gone down by upto 2p per litre depending on the garage brand... has it gone down anywhere else?

Scenario:

I get a car allowance of £5k p.a to purchase, maintain, service and Tax my 2.2ltre Avensis diesal.

I have a petrol card to pay for fuel.

The company deducts for private milage at the rate of .22p per mile.

Is this correct? It should only be for refund of private fuel use but seems high

Based on 110p per litre and doing 40mpg on average and with my maths skills somewhat suspect, I'm having problems devizing the formula to calculate fuel per mile and actual fuela cost per mile. Can anyone help?

I don't really care that retailers are making 4p per litre or whatever it is. They're running a business at the end of the day.

What annoys me is the fact that most of the cost of fuel is tax.

Blame the government, not the retailer!

The 3 week trend for oil price is down, down, down.

The 3 week trend for forecourt prices is stagnant to up!!!

I'm not sure how your point about climate change is relevant in regards to garages robbin people at the pumps?

If you mean about the government increasing fuel duty and citing climate change as the reason then that is a valid but different point. Garages don't impose climate changes taxes.

You lost me with the buses, but again i'm guessing that your referring to the fact that public transport is not a viable alternative to driving in some areas, again a valid but irrelevant point. Garages don't run the bus service.

Also for info the price today dropped 2ppl, so in the last 3 days a small increase overall of 0.5ppl. Now if garages were as quick to pass on the savings then I would assume that the same swiftness for price rises would also be passed on?
If garages passed on the daily price, as a customer who filled up yesterday I would be miffed to pay 3ppl more than Monday because of mid-week price increase only to find it back to the lower price the next day. This is how garages act as a 'buffer' zone and don't pass on the immediate saving and rises, they follow a trend rather than the daily swing.

Hopefully some people will understand a little now of how a garage retailing fuel operates

I dont care the point is climate change is it not that itself is not 100 per cent accurate infact its about 80 per cent pure rubbish hence why i know prices are going up

lets say rural areas dont use the car get the bus yeah why not try coming home at 10pm at night full of drunken drugged up yobs i dont think so


buses are a no go pure and simple

@152

Robbing bstrds at 4ppl?

so lets say retailer drops his price by 4ppl then (3% of the 111.9), now you got 3% off who would you like to call robbing bstrds now?

Do bear in mind that 4ppl is gross profit (before sites costs) a site will run for around 2-3ppl costs, and these margins are deemed as quite reasonable. so lets run the site for £0 a profit a year, take site costs of 2.5ppl and that gives a profit of 1.5ppl or 1.3% of the price that can be taking off.

Gee, you got a price were one group is 3% and another group is around 70% of the price and you complain that the 3% are the ones doing the 'robbin'?

For you info, the price the last 2 days has gone up 2.5ppl, no site around me has gone up, so if they making 4ppl and it cost them 2.0ppl to run the site, they are now losing a small margin on there fuel sales.

Next time you complain about the price of fuel, can i suggest you read this site and then direct your efforts to the largest casue to the price of fuel?

Who cares the oil is creeping back up and the price at the pumps is here as well it never dropped once with it dropping to 73 dollars so dont give me the rubbish of getting margins its profit the robbing bstrds

154 John

I asked the question of Price Action to see if he/she had any knowledge to back up his/her argument. The lack of reply would indicate not. The answer is:

Assuming mid-CIF pricing, unleaded was $696.50/tonne and Derv $615.25/tonne for delivery on 2nd Feb. Convert this to litres and use an exchange rate of $1.6024/£ then add on 2.5 pence per litre to deliver to the petrol station and you get a cost price excluding VAT of 91.495 ppl for unleaded and 91.304 ppl for Derv. 56.19 ppl of both these prices is Duty. Selling at the prices stated gives a gross profit ex. VAT of 2.03 ppl on unleaded and 3.93 ppl on Derv. Recognise that NO overheads have been taken out of this.

I don't "expect" you to pay any price - the market dictates that. However, you might want to consider your interpretation of "competitive behaviour" if you think that the dominance of the Hypermarkets and the consequent dimunition of choice by the erosion of local businesses is a good thing

No doubt you complain about the cost of fuel to drive to your chosen Hypermarket!

Dear Retailer,

You tell us!

If it weren't for the likes of Morrisons, Asda and Sainsburys competitive behaviour (Tescos deliberately left out), heaven knows (am I allowed to say that in this country?) what price you'd be expecting us to pay.

@152

"We can, of course ignore retailers' dubious contrary claims that appear even on this discussion page along with the counter-productive PRA press releases to the UK media which try to excuse unreasonable price rises."

Ok no problem, as retailers and PRA are all wrong (in your opinion)then use a source your happy with, how about this website

http://www.petrolprices.com/price-of-petrol.html
http://www.petrolprices.com/fuel-tax.html

less than 8% of the cost of fuel is retailer and oil company.

152

"The increased prices would appear to result from the Petrol Retailers' Association cartel action, started over the last few weeks, to encourage UK petrol retailers to hike prices together." Got any evidence to support this wild claim? Do you even know anything about the PRA or who it's members are? No - I thought not.

"We know prices this high are not justified by the current fairly benign underlying cost pattern." What does this vague gobbledygook mean? Please provide the numbers to support what you are trying to say!

"counter-productive PRA press releases to the UK media which try to excuse unreasonable price rises." What is counter productive about providing the facts? If you don't agree with them then please provide the facts to support your counter-argument - or are you just giving an unfounded opinion?

Retail margins are currently better at the moment than they have been for some months - but they are not excessive and this is what happens in a free market. Undoubtedly margins will come down again. If margins stayed permanently at the level they were pre-Christmas you could expect a significant number of petrol station closures and a consequent loss of jobs leaving the supermarkets able to further exploit their dominant position.

Of course, I don't expect you to believe any of this, you'll just see it as an "excuse", so if you want to counter my view then please provide your evidence in numbers. You could start by simply demonstrating what pence per litre gross profit an independent retailer would make by selling unleaded at 109.9 and Derv at 111.9 today.

I look forward to your reply.

The increased prices would appear to result from the Petrol Retailers' Association cartel action, started over the last few weeks, to encourage UK petrol retailers to hike prices together.

We know prices this high are not justified by the current fairly benign underlying cost pattern.

We can, of course ignore retailers' dubious contrary claims that appear even on this discussion page along with the counter-productive PRA press releases to the UK media which try to excuse unreasonable price rises.