Oil prices have dropped 11% since the beginning of October, leading to a reduction in wholesale prices of fuel, but it has taken some retailers until the 8th November to pass those savings on to the customer. In fact, until 6th November, only one of the big four retailers had lowered their petrol prices, with the other three actually increasing prices slightly.
This led to statements from motoring organisations saying that “every motorist should feel aggrieved”.
Price reductions
The price of oil has fallen from $84.73 to $75.55 in the past six weeks, the direct result of which is a reduction in the wholesale cost of fuel, which should equate to around a 3ppl saving over current petrol prices, and yet three of the big four retailers – Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s had failed to acknowledge those savings, according to the RAC.
Asda, on the other hand, has already dropped their petrol prices, and introduced a nationwide price cap throughout their sites, meaning that the maximum anyone will pay is 122.7 pence per litre for unleaded, regardless of geography.
Simon Williams, an RAC spokesperson said: “Every motorist should feel aggrieved that the price of a litre of fuel has remained constant throughout October, when it should have fallen by 3 pence”, but perhaps the RAC were a little premature with their statement, given that the large retailers have finally released statements regarding the lowering of fuel prices.
Whilst Asda have already lowered their prices by an average of 2.4ppl, the other three supermarkets have released statements declaring that they’d be cutting ‘up to 2ppl’ from their petrol prices.
Diesel still seems to be staying at higher prices. Mark Todd, co-founder of leading price comparison service, energyhelpline said “When diesel and heating oil prices rise, energy prices tend to follow. The biggest factor that pushes up household energy prices is the price of natural gas which is up around 50% this year. No wonder we are seeing price rises right now. The biggest factor pushing up the price of diesel and heating oil is the oil price which has also been on the rise. While the oil and gas markets are not identical they tend to follow similar patterns driven by global supply and demand and similar producers eg. Russia, Saudi Arabia and the oil giants like Exxon and Shell. So when one goes up don’t be surprised to see the other follow.”
A look at the past month
Ashley Beach, Data Analyst at PetrolPrices said: “From our data we can see that in October there was no change in the average price of unleaded at 131.2ppl, equalling the average price in September. However unleaded did see approximately a penny rise from the start to the middle of both months, and then a decline back to the starting price at the end of the month. Jet saw the largest drop of 0.7ppl in their average price of unleaded, followed by Sainsbury’s with a drop of 0.4ppl.
Meanwhile, the average price of diesel increased by 2.1ppl to 136.4ppl in October and reached an average high of 137.1ppl. For the average diesel car performing at 62.2mpg, that does on average a mileage of 842 miles per month would have cost the driver an extra £1.30 compared to the fuel they spent in September.
However, compared to January this year this saving would be £7.26. As stated before Jet had the largest decrease in unleaded, however, this is contradicted by the fact that they had the largest increase in the average price of diesel of 2.6ppl.
Using the fact that 30.4 billion litres of diesel was sold in 2017 in the UK and this increased by 1% from 2016, we estimate there to be roughly 30.7 billion litres sold in 2018. This averages at approximately 2.56 billion litres a month, with the assumption that each month an equal amount is sold.
PetrolPrices estimated how much more the UK spent on all fuel in October compared to September by brand, using the statistic from the RAC that says 47.2 billion litres of fuel were sold in the UK in 2017, assuming that this statistic will stay the same for 2018 as it has been roughly this for the past two years. We also assumed that each month an equal amount of fuel would be sold. Totalling all of these estimates up, we produced a final figure of £48,515,654.24 proving that motorists spent over £40 million extra on filling up in October compared to September.”
Frozen fuel duty
Last week’s budget brought further relief to the motorist after last month’s high prices– it was announced that fuel duty would be frozen for the ninth consecutive year, and while many motorists still feel that a reduction in fuel duty is the only way forward, we have been conditioned to believe that a freeze in duty is acceptable, perhaps even favourable.
This comes just at the right time, after a long summer of high prices, it seems that the motorist is finally going to get some relief at the pumps, albeit around £1.92 on an average tank of fuel. With that said, all four supermarkets (Tesco is Britain’s largest petrol retailer) will be going head-to-head in a price war, so prices could still yet drop further, even more so if there’s an Asda in the locale.
There are ways that you can benefit further still; as a member of PetrolPrices, you’ll already be aware that you could be saving around £220 each year on your fuel costs, but keeping an eye out for promotions through the supermarkets could save you a further 10ppl, and ensuring that your car is in good mechanical condition would save you further monies still.
Should the ‘big four’ have discounted their fuel at an earlier date? Do you think we can expect to see further discounts at the pumps in the last part of the year? Or will prices increase again? Let us know in the comments.
Let’s be honest, the fuel companies can charge us whatever they like, we are powerless to do anything about it.
OIL price per barrel BRENT $72.340 Pound £1.314 pump prices £1.37 =RIP OFF BRITAIN,in FRANCE THEY BLOCKADE THE REFINERYS,(LIVED THERE),SOUTH AFRICA THEY SET THEM ON FIRE.,You have more power than me so a petition should be started up, to BRING INFLATION DOWN
to-days date 8/11/2018 time 08-16 am
Were two soft as a nation to do that this country is two divided rich and poor and doers and car,nt be bothered
Wrong its the post brexit £ – $ exchange rate
Mark, get a life and stop making the same stupid ill informed comment
It’s the same old same old every winter the price of fuel goes up and the excuse given by suppliers, It’s because of increased demand for heating oil, in-spite of most people buying heating oil well in advance when the demand for heating oil is small.
Just another rip off for Christmas really.
It doesn’t really matter when people paid for heating fuel, it is the availability of motor vehicle fuels on the spot market that dictates our fuel prices. Fact is, there’s no incentive for Shell, BP, etc., to increase availability of motor vehicle fuels, as we have no choice but to pay at the pump.
Wrong its the post brexit vote £ – $ exchange rate
Did not take long for a comment that it’s all due to “Brexit”. as with all other things that we do not like.
Mark, the middle men suppliers of all crude oil products have always been quick to raise prices and slow to lower them when the price of crude oil moves in either direction and have done for many years before Brexit.
As for currency exchange rates, this is solely dependant on the currency markets and is affected by many reasons, not just Brexit only. So stop blaming everything on Brexit.
Welcome to Rip Off Britain
Wrong its the £ – $ exchange rate
Mark, once again you have a blinkered idea of how exchange rates are influenced by global currency and commercial factors.
Do some research and then make comments.
“For the average diesel car performing at 62.2mpg”
This statement applies only to NEW cars. The average car is certainly not new, therefore, this statement is factually incorrect. The real average will be a lot lower than this.
One week ago whilst travelling eastbound on the A303 I noticed on the price list outside the Shell filling station at the Amesbury services that Diesel was £1.44 per litre. That’s outrageous!
One week ago whilst travelling eastbound on the A303 I noticed that Diesel was £1.40 per litre at the Shell Amesbury filling station.
You should check out the price of diesel just past on the M6 to the A74 Scotland Shell selling at 149.9 and on the other side of the motorway BP selling at 150.9 and yet ASDA at Carlisle selling at 132.7 just off the M6.
Always make sure to fill up at the supermarket’s a lot cheaper!!!!!!, 2 minutes off the motorway.
In fact just see where the supermarket’s are on the internet as simple as that
Yes. We travelled from Devon up to Scotland and used the Asda at Carisle. It only takes a few minutes of research to plan your stops. Saved us a fair bit in our campervan doing 30 to the gallon! Cheap place for food at the same time.
ASDA havnt dropped the prices here in Manchester….
What we need is to pressure fuel supplier companies wherever possible WE (or as many as possible) only refuel our vehicles on specific days of the week so on many days ….the pumps lay idle and staff and shops empty ! That way people power may just impact the extortionate fuel prices and regional hikes !
Wrong its the £ – $ exchange rate
Mark, go away and do some research and stop being so facile.
.
Interesting comments on the variance in prices, but how did you reverse the 70 mph sign in the picture?
In Bridgend, South Wales Sainsbury Diesel is £1.27.5 and Tesco is £1.28.5 and its been like this for weeks and petrol is even cheaper but in Southampton yesterday the cheapest supermarkets were around £1.38.5 for diesel. Someone making a profit somewhere.
Wrong its the £ – $ exchange rate
Someone, please find Marks Dummy then maybe he’ll shut up and go to sleep on mummies lap
The problem is some supermarket fuel is not up to the standard of most private fuel stations, just remember supermarkets are there to make money NOT to give you a good deal on your Fuel.
Wrong its the £ – $ exchange rate
does this mark butler work for the oil industry
Yes, He tests Baby Oil for Mothercare
John : Yes of course supermarkets attempt to make a profit but so also do private fuel stations.
The single driver behind this is the Brexit fiasco.
Oil is traded in US Dollars and as a DIRECT RESULT of the brexit vote the pound has devalued against the Dollar.
As a result our imported oil and all related products have shot up in price.
Worst thing is we are still in Europe, just wait till the day we leave, you better have a moped in the garage because that’s all you will be driving.
At last, Mark reveals his true colours. A whinging, sulking, screaming, feet stamping REMOANER.
Should have guessed earlier as all the signs were there.
Do not drive is the only way to spend less .Stop[ complaining about the cost of fuel use the car less and less and save the country from more pollution
What an idiotic comment! If you live many miles from any shops how do you eat etc? My god some people are so dumb…No doubt living in a city…
Can someone explain why if petrol come down why has diesel gone up,at most garages its nearly 10p a litre dearer, The oil companies are ripping us off.Time the government took them to task.Not all of us can change over to petrol,plus I feel for driving companies,as their cost of deliveries etc,As a senior i need a car to get about,and also not fair to the younger drivers. Who can help us?
Has anyone calculated just how much of that 48+ billion pounds goes to HM Government?
No need for the chancellor to raise the fuel duty as long as the pump prices keep going up the increase in tax revenue is only going one way.UP. More money to be squandered by the E.U. GRAVY TRAIN.
Cost to drive a vehicle increase so Government says go electric. How is that generated. What % of fuel import goes to provide electricity? Does that get reflected in non fossil fuel vehicles.
Is it true that Desiel is less refined than petrol. If so would it go through less of a procedure to process so why does it cost more. Being held up at the pumps takes on another meaning.
WTI crude oil price peaked 8th October at $76.90 tonight 5.00pm est dropped to $55.28 there has not been any movement down since the peak oil price. The £ vs $ is a contributing factor as it is traded in dollars BUT it time for the supermarkets to start the move back to when the oil price was this low, which was back in the spring